Costs of Care and The Leapfrog Group Honor Hartford HealthCare CEO Jeffrey A. Flaks with Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare Leadership

Hartford HealthCare earns multiple awards from Leapfrog

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Costs of Care and The Leapfrog Group today announced that Jeffrey A. Flaks, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hartford HealthCare, has been awarded the Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO. The prestigious award recognizes courageous and ethical leadership in addressing the twin challenges of quality and affordability in healthcare.

The award was presented at The Leapfrog Group's Annual Meeting, honoring Mr. Flaks for his transformative leadership and commitment to creating a health system that delivers exceptional outcomes while improving access and affordability for all. The award was created by 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 conjunction with The Leapfrog Group, the nation's leading advocate for patient safety and transparency. The award recognizes 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.

"We hope to inspire further leadership in health care, like that shown by Jeffrey Flaks, that quality and affordability are not competing priorities," said Chris Moriates, MD, Executive Director of Costs of Care. "CEOs play an important role in clearly communicating, in both words AND actions, that patient affordability is a critical goal to improve care."

"In its seven-hospital system, six earned an "A" and one earned a "B" on the Hospital Safety Grade, and two hospitals received Leapfrog's elite Top Hospital Award. Among its surgery centers, five earned our prestigious 2025 Top ASC Award. This is an outstanding testament to the dedication of Hartford HealthCare's staff, clinicians, board, and volunteers—and to the extraordinary leadership of Jeff Flaks," said Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. "Hartford HealthCare's achievements demonstrate how exceptional leadership can transform care and save lives."

A Vision for Quality and Affordability

Under Mr. Flaks' leadership, Hartford HealthCare has become a nationally recognized model for excellence and equity, serving more than 28,000 people every day. The system's strategic framework, known internally as A2E2—Access, Affordability, Health Equity, and Excellence—guides every initiative.

Quality Achievements:

• Hartford HealthCare earned the American Hospital Association's Quest for Quality Prize in 2025—the only health system in the nation to receive this top honor.
• Hospital-acquired infections reduced by 76% over the past decade, and serious safety events decreased by 67% since 2019.

Affordability Initiatives:

• Neighborhood Health brings care directly to underserved communities, with more than 12,000 patient visits since 2021.
• Medical Mission Days provide free care and resources to thousands of Connecticut residents.
• More than 43% of surgeries now occur in high-quality, lower-cost ambulatory settings, reducing costs by an average of 26%.
• Hartford HealthCare ranks in the top 20% nationally for price transparency, offering tools and financial assistance to help patients understand and manage costs.

"This recognition is a testament to the extraordinary people and culture that define Hartford HealthCare," said Jeffrey A. Flaks, President and CEO. "Our colleagues make this possible every day by relentlessly innovating and working together to deliver world-class quality while improving affordability and access for the communities we serve. This award reflects what happens when the best people come together with a shared purpose—to transform healthcare for everyone."

Hartford HealthCare earns multiple other awards from Leapfrog

Leapfrog also recognized two Hartford HealthCare hospitals for consistent performance on its Hospital Survey, which measures facilities against the highest standards for quality and patient safety, including infection rates, maternity care, surgical practices and medication safety.

• Hartford Hospital was named a Leapfrog "Top Teaching Hospital" for the fifth consecutive year. It is one of only 73 hospitals nationwide to earn the honor in 2025.

"This recognition underscores the value of putting the patient at the center of everything we do," said Cheryl Ficara, RN, MSN, president of Hartford Hospital and senior vice president of Hartford HealthCare.

• Windham Hospital earned the Leapfrog Top General Hospital Award for the second year in a row. It is one of just 36 hospitals receiving this distinction nationwide.

"This award highlights our team's unwavering commitment to clinical excellence and patient safety," said Windham President Donna Handley.

Surgical center safety

All five eligible Hartford HealthCare ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) were named to Leapfrog's nationwide "Top Ambulatory Surgery Center" list for exceptional performance in clinical outcomes, patient safety and processes protecting patients.

"This achievement reflects the dedication and expertise of Hartford HealthCare, Constitution Surgery Alliance (CSA) and our exceptional ASC physician partners," said Karen Goyette, system executive vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer. "This award further validates our collective commitment to ensuring patients access to more affordable, world-class and quality care."

Hartford HealthCare ASCs have earned nine total Leapfrog Top ASC designations since the program's 2022 inception. This year's recognition includes:

• HHC Cheshire Surgery Center, second consecutive year
• HHC Southwest Connecticut Surgery Center in Wilton, second consecutive year
• HHC Hartford Surgery Center, second recognition
• HHC Rocky Hill Surgery Center, second recognition
• HHC Surgery Center East in Waterford, first recognition

About the Steven Schroeder Award

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 over five decades inspiring and mentoring leaders to strongly advocate for better quality and more affordable healthcare, and he has inspired leaders of both Costs of Care and The Leapfrog Group.

"There are many reasons why Jeff Flaks is a worthy recipient of this year's award," believes Dr. Schroeder. "Under Mr. Flaks' leadership, Hartford HealthCare has made remarkable achievements in both quality and affordability. Hartford HealthCare has created a host of impressive community-based programs that promote both accessibility and affordability of health care. By creating a culture of quality and service to the community, Mr. Flaks stands as a model leader who promotes the core values of health care. I hope that many others will emulate his example."

This year marks the 8th annual Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO. Past recipients of the Steven Schroeder Award 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.

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

About Hartford HealthCare
With 44,000 dedicated colleagues and a bold vision for the future, Hartford HealthCare is transforming healthcare across Connecticut and beyond — enhancing access, affordability, health equity, and excellence. Spanning 500 locations across 185 towns and cities, our comprehensive care-delivery system is built to serve every community, every day. 

From world-class hospitals — including two tertiary-level teaching hospitals, an acute-care community teaching hospital, an acute-care hospital and trauma center, and four community hospitals — to a network of behavioral health services, multispecialty physician groups, urgent and virtual care, surgery centers, home care, senior care, rehabilitation, and mobile neighborhood health programs, Hartford HealthCare is there when and where it matters most. 

We touch the lives of nearly 28,000 people every day, delivering unparalleled care through our unique Institute Model — bringing together leading experts in neuroscience, cancer, digestive health, heart and vascular care, orthopedics, and urology and kidney health to provide a unified, high standard of care at the most affordable cost. 

Recognized nationally for patient safety and clinical excellence, Hartford HealthCare has earned the 2025 Quest for Quality Award from the American Hospital Association and has received Leapfrog A-ratings across all our hospitals — making us one of the safest healthcare systems in the country. 

Join us on our journey to reimagine healthcare. Visit www.HartfordHealthCare.org and stay connected through our newsletters and social media. 

SOURCE Hartford HealthCare