The Steven Schroeder Award recognizes a hospital and/or health system CEO who is demonstrating courageous and ethical leadership addressing the twin issues of affordability and quality of health care in their community.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Costs of Care, a leading nonprofit dedicated to cultivating change agents who will lead the creation of a more affordable and equitable health system, in partnership with The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers focused on health care safety and quality, is now accepting nominations for the annual Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO. This award was created to recognize a hospital and/or health system CEO who has demonstrated courageous and ethical leadership addressing the twin issues of affordability and quality of health care in their community. The recipient of this year's award will be prominently recognized at The Leapfrog Group's Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner, which will take place in-person on December 15th, 2025 at the Gaylord National Harbor in Maryland.

Past recipients of the Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO include:

• Mr. Richard A. Anderson, President and CEO of St. Luke's University Health Network in central eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey;
• Mr. Charles Holland, President and CEO of St. Bernard Hospital in Chicago;
• J. Stephen Jones, MD, FACS, President and CEO of Inova Health System in Northern Virginia;
• Joanne M. Conroy, MD, CEO and President of Dartmouth Health in New Hampshire;
• Mr. Carl S. Armato, President and CEO of Novant Health in North Carolina;
• Mr. John A. DiAngelo, former President and CEO of Inspira Health in New Jersey;
• Gary S. Kaplan, MD, former Chairman and CEO of Virginia Mason in Seattle, Washington.

The Outstanding Healthcare CEO award is named in honor of Steven Schroeder, MD, Distinguished Professor of Health and Health Care at the University of California San Francisco and former President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Schroeder has spent six decades inspiring and mentoring leaders to forcefully advocate for better quality and more affordable health care, and he has inspired leaders of both Costs of Care and The Leapfrog Group.

"Health care today is in turmoil, as many Americans face the prospect of losing their health insurance and struggling hospitals face an uncertain, but alarming future. Thus, it is a challenging time for hospital CEOs who strive to achieve high quality care while prudently safeguarding costly resources. Past winners of this award have shown that this tricky and courageous balancing act is indeed possible. We look forward to identifying the next inspirational leader," said Dr. Schroeder.

Last year's Steven Schroeder Award was presented to Mr. Richard A. Anderson, President and CEO of St. Luke's University Health Network, a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 23,000 employees providing services at 16 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites in central eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. Mr. Anderson reflected on the award, "receiving the Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO was a meaningful honor for all of us at St. Luke's University Health Network. This award recognizes leadership that prioritizes both affordability and quality in healthcare, values that directly reflect our mission. It also celebrates the success and challenges of financial pressures and the commitment to ensure every patient receives safe, equitable, and compassionate care. To future recipients: it is my wish this award will serve as a reminder of the real difference one can make when leading with integrity, always trying to do the right thing, while never losing sight of the people and communities you serve."

"We continue to seek inspiration from hospital and health system CEOs who are breaking the mold—leading with courage, integrity, and an unwavering focus on what matters most: making health care more affordable, equitable, and worthy of the public's trust," said Chris Moriates, MD, Executive Director of Costs of Care. "This award shines a spotlight on leaders who prove it's not only possible—it's necessary."

"We are proud to recognize another outstanding CEO this year with this distinguished award. Every patient deserves nothing short of exceptional care, and true leaders in patient safety demonstrate relentless commitment to that standard, every hour of every day. Just as vital is their drive to make that care affordable. We thank the leaders who truly put patients first," said Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group.

Nominations for the Steven Schroeder Award will be accepted through October 10th, 2025 – nominees must be CEOs for hospitals and/or health systems that reported to the 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Survey and the recipient must be available to receive the award in-person at The Leapfrog Group's Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner. For more information on how to nominate a CEO for the prestigious Steven Schroeder Award, please visit Costs of Care.

About Costs of Care

Costs of Care is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating change agents who will lead the creation of a more affordable and equitable health system. Since 2009, Costs of Care has collected personal accounts from physicians, nurses, and patients all over the United States that illustrate routine and high-yield opportunities to improve the value of care delivery. Costs of Care directs the STARS program for medical and interprofessional students, catalyzing grassroots, student-led initiatives to advance health care value in medical education. Costs of Care has also created widely adopted and enduring resources to educate medical trainees and clinicians about how to address health care costs and provide high-value care, including the textbook Understanding Value-Based Healthcare, the "COST" framework for designing value improvement projects, multiple workshops, and free video modules.

In December 2019, Costs of Care launched the Affordability Moonshot - envisioning a world in which "no one has to choose between their life and their life-savings" – informed by an Affordability Framework for health systems and paired with an Affordability Accelerator in September 2021 with the subsequent publication "The Affordability Accelerator: A Road Map to Improve Patient Out-of-Pocket Costs and Trustworthiness in Health Care" in NEJM Catalyst.

Connect at http://costsofcare.org, be a part of the Moonshot at moonshot.costsofcare.org, and follow on Twitter/Instagram @CostsOfCare.

About The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps for patient safety. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. For more, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for our newsletter

Media Contact

September Wallingford, Costs of Care, 1 732-778-3227, september@costsofcare.org, costsofcare.org 

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SOURCE Costs of Care