Carle Health Medical Group Honored as AMGA’s 2026 Acclaim Award Recipient

Alexandria, VA – Urbana, IL-based Carle Health Medical Group has been named AMGA’s 2026 Acclaim Award recipient. The Acclaim Award honors healthcare delivery organizations that are bringing the American healthcare system closer to the ideal delivery model—one that is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. For their accomplishments, Scripps Coastal Medical Group and WellSpan Health were named Acclaim Award honorees.

Structured around the Quadruple Aim, the Acclaim Award criteria include improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations with a focus on quality outcomes, reducing the per capita cost of healthcare, and emphasizing workplace wellness. 

“Each year, AMGA members continue to showcase their incredible work at achieving the Quadruple Aim,” said Jerry Penso, MD, MBA, AMGA president and CEO. “Carle Health’s initiatives demonstrate their dedication to serving populations where and how they prefer to receive care, as well as uplifting staff morale, key components of the AMGA Acclaim Award.”

Carle Health Medical Group was recognized for the following initiatives:

• Designing maternal/child nurse home visiting (NHV) services to integrate with the health system and building trust through an enhanced patient experience by meeting families where they are, in their homes, with culturally responsive, relationship-based care. 
• Identifying and assessing populations disproportionately affected by inequities and providing culturally responsive care via routine NHV screening at various developmental stages. 
• Demonstrating timely and comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care, higher engagement in health and wellness activities, decreases in neonatal intensive care unit utilization, and meaningful reductions in emergency department (ED) utilization through NHV services, evidenced by an extensive five-year review of its impact: an overall 57.3% reduction in ED utilization, comparing system ED usage two years prior to enrollment vs. two years after enrollment.
• Focusing on team stability, improving retention rates, creating continuity, and reducing disruption, leading to the well-being of the staff delivering services

“Receiving the Acclaim Award is an honor we hold in the highest regard and speaks to Carle Health’s unwavering commitment to provide highly accessible, world-class care and service to our community,” said Julianna S. Sellett, DNP, RN, vice president, Carle Community Health. “Our teams work tirelessly, collaborating with a diverse range of cross-sector partners and community members, to build an innovative infrastructure and culture of community health. Our overarching goal is to ensure that everyone, regardless of life circumstances, has the opportunity to lead a prosperous and healthy life. Receiving this award is not only a moment of pride, but also a reflection of our collective efforts and dedication. We are beyond grateful for the chance to share this pivotal initiative with others. Throughout our journey, we have learned so much from many sources, and we remain committed to paying forward our knowledge and experiences to help others in their own pursuits.”

Scripps Coastal Medical Group, an honoree of the Acclaim Award, was recognized for the following initiatives:

• Creating a frictionless access model by fully embracing virtual care and redesigning delivery service after the COVID-19 pandemic
• Launching rapid process improvement events where interdisciplinary teams mapped the current state, tested countermeasures, and authored standard work, job aids, and detailed work instructions
• Implementing point-of-care (POC) retinal cameras in primary care offices, with medical assistants trained to screen diabetic patients who had not yet completed their annual screening
• Rebuilding the professional workday from the inbox out with the implementation of Project Wellbeing, which grew out of a top organizational priority to relieve low-value work, protect time for patient care, and rebuild connections

Acclaim Award honoree WellSpan Health was recognized for the following initiatives:

• Integrating technology to strengthen brand perception and maintain a personalized patient connection
• Deploying Ana, a generative AI agent built specifically for the organization, to engage with patients who had not responded to portal campaigns or who do not have active portal accounts
• Identifying inconsistent processes in referrals to inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRF), which contributed to unnecessary admissions, higher costs, and fragmented care 
• Influencing state-level licensure change through the Office of Well-being (OWB) as part as the organization’s People First strategy

AMGA’s prestigious Acclaim Award highlights the continued research and investigation toward finding the finest models of medical management and care delivery coordination, as well as developing a systemic approach to improving the patient and provider experience. 

More information on the Acclaim Award can be found here.

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About AMGA
AMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of healthcare in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, innovate, and empower our members to deliver the next level of high performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of our members’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, high-value care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans. For more information, visit amga.org.