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Innovation 2 minute read

CommonSpirit Health named 2025 Quest for Quality Prize finalist by American Hospital Association

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Quest for Quality Prize 2025

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has named CommonSpirit Health as the finalist for the 2025 AHA Quest for Quality Prize.

The Quest for Quality Prize recognizes exceptional healthcare leadership and innovation in improving quality and advancing health in America’s communities. 

The AHA praised CommonSpirit for its commitment to being a high-performing organization, evident by mission-driven leadership, well-executed systemwide governance structure, dedication to community partnerships, and a culture of patient-centered care and continuous improvement.

“We are particularly proud of our journey to becoming ‘One CommonSpirit,’ which is driving consistent improvements in quality and patient outcomes across the organization,” said CommonSpirit Health CEO Wright Lassiter III. “It’s not just about a single program, but a systemic shift toward a standardized approach that supports our ability to deliver high-quality care for all.”

CommonSpirit was also recognized for an eight step process it uses to cascade quality and safety changes throughout all hospitals in its health system. In the past three years, this process has been used on nearly 20 metrics to elevate the system’s performance to the top third or better of the national median as well as its culture of welcoming and incentivizing innovation from any staff member.

The AHA cited three examples of CommonSpirit team members identifying a quality or safety priority and cascading changes throughout the health system:

  • When leaders at CommonSpirit hospitals in the Pacific northwest saw success with artificial intelligence-enabled tools that notify a provider — before a patient visit — which cancer screenings should be ordered, CommonSpirit moved to roll out the technology across the system. 

  • Despite the importance of managing maternal hypertension for safe patient care, there were no national benchmarks on this patient care process. As a result, CommonSpirit developed internal benchmarks that identified opportunities to improve maternal care by analyzing systemwide data and implementing solutions resulting in demonstrable achievements related to hypertension and eclampsia.

  • CommonSpirit implemented best practices to address heart failure mortality in fiscal year 2024, leading to a 42% reduction in the risk-adjusted, observed-to-expected mortality ratio. That success brought CommonSpirit’s performance to the 86th percentile nationally, saving an estimated 500 lives each year.