The annual AzHHA Quality Awards celebrate and recognize Arizona’s leaders committed to advancing healthcare 
through exceptional quality performance, community engagement and a culture of continuous improvement.
Awards are given out for Top Overall Excellence, Clinical Excellence and Outstanding Patient/Community Impact.
Winners are selected from five classifications:
- 25 beds or less (including, but not limited to, critical access hospitals)
- 26-100 beds
- 101-300 beds
- More than 300 beds
- Specialty hospital (behavioral health, surgical, long-term acute care, freestanding ED, other)
Each year, these awards are presented at a luncheon at the Arizona Hospital Leadership Conference.
Now open: 2025 award applications
The Third Annual AzHHA Quality Awards applications are now available. Hospitals must be able to highlight a recent project, within the last 12 months. The 2025 award categories are:
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Clinical Excellence
- Outcomes that affect processes, staff, clinical relationships, unit leadership, emergency preparedness planning, collaboration with schools or community partners, workforce (retention, recognition, recruitment), etc.
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Outstanding Patient/Community Impact
- Outcomes that directly affect patients, reducing hospital acquired infection rates, fall rates, maternal health, mental health, patient safety, quality, equitable and respectful care, patient family advisory councils, etc.
The organization must complete a storyboard application that includes a summary of the following:
- Process of identifying need and project scope
- Leadership and planning
- Process improvement methods
- Results
- Lessons learned and sustainability
Ready to apply? Read our application instructions and complete the Applicant Information form to get started.
Applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 30, 2025. The awards will be presented at the 2025 Arizona Hospital Leadership Conference on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.
2024 award winners
Thank you to everyone who submitted an application for the 2024 AzHHA Quality Awards! These nominations reflected the tremendous work happening across our state to keep advancing outstanding care for all Arizonans. In 2024, awards were presented for Top Overall Excellence, Community Engagement, Patient Safety and Quality, and Maternal Health Innovation. Winners were selected from three classifications - top critical access/rural hospital (less than or equal to 100 beds), top general acute care (101+ beds) and top federal hospital.
Congratulations to our 2024 award winners:
Top Overall Excellence Award (recognizing the highest achievement among the top winner from each category): Phoenix VA Health Care System for their submission titled “Journey to ZERO (Harm) — a Fall Reduction Project.”
Community Engagement Award
- There was a tie for the top score in the general acute care category:
- Valleywise Health for their submission titled “Bicycle Helmet Screening and Distribution in the Emergency Department – An Injury Prevention Program to engage the community during Emergency Department visits.”
- Onvida Health (formerly Yuma Regional Medical Center) for their submission titled “Enhancing Diabetes Self-management for Underinsured Low-income Individuals with Diabetes.”
Patient Safety and Quality Award
- Top critical access hospital/rural hospital (less than or equal to 100 beds): Cornerstone Specialty Hospital Southeast Arizona for their submission titled “Zero Harm: Our High-Reliability Journey.”
- Top general acute care (greater or equal to 101 beds): Valleywise Health for their submission titled “Target 1% - Blood Culture Contamination Rate Process Improvement.”
- Top federal hospital: Phoenix VA Health Care System for their submission titled “Journey to ZERO (Harm) — a Fall Reduction Project.”
Maternal Health Innovation Award
- Top critical access hospital/rural hospital (less than or equal to 100 beds): Canyon Vista Medical Center for their submission titled “OB Hemorrhage Improvement.”
- Top general acute care (greater or equal to 101 beds): Summit Healthcare for their submission titled “Alliance Supporting Parents in Recovery (ASPIRe).”
- Top federal hospital: Southern Arizona VA Health Care System for their submission titled “Commitment to High Reliability: An Organizational Approach to Improving Care for our Women Veterans.”
View pictures from the 2024 AzHHA Quality Awards Luncheon.
View the winners from the 2023 awards.