Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health physician assistants (from left) Bailey Ellis, Josh Butler and Jodi Sandherr accepted the 2019-2020 Employer of Excellence award from the AAPA’s Center for Healthcare Leadership and Management.
Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health was selected as one of the American Academy of PAs’ Center for Healthcare Leadership and Management’s (CHLM) winners of the 2019-2020 Employer of Excellence Awards. The award program is designed to showcase organizations that have implemented practices that create positive work environments for PAs (physician assistants) and encourage collaborative provider teams. The program is the first and only PA-specific award program available to organizations.
“Physician assistants are trusted and valued members of the team at Lancaster General Health, and we appreciate their dedication and commitment to providing high-quality care to our patients and community,” said Michael R. Ripchinski, MD, Chief Clinical Officer. “We are pleased with this national recognition of our health system’s efforts to recruit, retain and develop the very best PAs.”
To determine the criteria for recognition, CHLM partnered with HealthStream, a leading provider of workforce, patient experience, and provider solutions for the healthcare industry, to gain an understanding of what PAs value in their place of employment. Based on the survey findings, criteria for the Employer of Excellence Awards focuses on the following five key drivers:
- Establishing a positive and supportive PA work environment.
- Providing opportunities for PAs to provide meaningful input that leads to positive organizational change.
- Keeping PAs informed about organizational activity and decisions.
- Involving PAs in leadership efforts to improve the quality of patient care.
- Creating processes for effective conflict management.
“We are so pleased to recognize the amazing accomplishments of this year’s Employer of Excellence winners. Their progressive work to support PAs should serve as an inspiration and model for all PA employers,” said Jennifer Broderick, managing director of CHLM. “Recognizing the value that PAs bring to both their employers and their patients is the goal of this award and we were so impressed with all of this year’s winners.”
At LG Health, nearly 150 physician assistants serve in a wide variety of roles throughout the health system, including as leaders and care team members within primary care, specialty and surgical hospital services and practices.
Each awardee will be showcased as a top place to work for PAs, which will enhance recruitment of highly-qualified PAs, increase retention rates, and showcase the awardees as pioneers in the healthcare industry. Awardees will retain their designation as an Employer of Excellence for two years, and then must re-apply to maintain the designation.