Geisinger Hospitals Receive Perinatal Quality Improvement Awards

Five Geisinger hospitals were recently recognized as recipients of the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative’s (PA PQC) Designations Awards which were presented at its annual conference in Altoona on May 21.

Designation signifies the hospital has established multidisciplinary teams that have demonstrated continuous quality improvement work in maternal and newborn care by sharing best practices and data in their hospital and community in specific issue areas impacting maternal mortality, including Maternal Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), Maternal Sepsis (MS), and Safe Sleep (SS).

A gold designation signifies a hospital’s proven commitment to data-driven, population-specific health goals and patient voice in their quality improvement work. A silver designation signifies a hospital’s dedicated commitment to incorporating data driven population-specific health goals or patient voice in their work. A bronze designation signifies the hospital has consistently met quality improvement submission goals.

The awards were announced and presented during a ceremony at the Blair County Convention Center. Those earning the silver or gold designation level have undertaken additional projects focused on health equity and/or patient voice within maternal and neonatal health-care.

The five Geisinger hospitals receiving recognition included:

• Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital: bronze for SS; silver for OUD; gold for NAS
• Geisinger Community Medical Center Scranton: bronze for OUD and SS
• Geisinger Lewistown Hosptial: bronze for SS; silver for OUD and NAS
• Geisinger Medical Center, Danville: bronze for MS and OUD; silver for SS
• Geisinger Wyoming Valley, Wilkes-Barre: bronze for OUD; gold for SS and MS.

“Geisinger has participated in the PA PQC since its inception in 2019. Our hospital teams collect and submit data to the PQC every quarter and, in the spirit of a collaborative, share their successes and challenges so that outcomes can be improved across the system,” said James Cook, M.D., Geisinger director of newborn services and co-chair of the PA PQC advisory committee. “The gold/silver/bronze designations are highly appreciated by our team members who are taking the time to improve patient care to those patients affected by opioid use and those who work to increase safe sleep awareness for newborns in our communities.”

Designation awards and levels are based on meeting quality improvement milestone criteria over a 12-month period from April 2024 to March 2025.

In Pennsylvania, perinatal health issues persist, including racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and neonatal outcomes, higher than average maternal sepsis rates, and drug overdose deaths during pregnancy and postpartum. Through collaborative efforts, the PA PQC aims to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes across the state.

The PA PQC is administered by the JHF and WHAMglobal, and it is affiliated with the Northeast PQC (NEPaPQC).

About the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative

The Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) provides quality improvement support to healthcare teams to improve the standard of care for pregnant and postpartum people and babies. Seventy-seven birth sites and NICUs from across the commonwealth participate in the PA PQC. The PA PQC is administered by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and WHAMglobal, and it is affiliated with the Northeast PQC (NEPaPQC). For more information, visit papqc.org.

About the Jewish Healthcare Foundation

The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and its three operating arms — the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI), Health Careers Futures (HCF), and the Women’s Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) — offer a unique brand of activist philanthropy to advance healthcare innovation, advocacy, collaboration, and education in the interest of better population health. For more information, visit jhf.org.