Has your healthcare CEO been working tirelessly to improve the quality and affordability of healthcare in your community? If so, please nominate your CEO for the prestigious Steven Schroeder Award by October 9th, 2026.

*All nominees must be CEOs of hospitals and/or health systems that reported to the free, 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

(If your hospital and/or health system did not report to the free survey, but would like to, please visit here for more information.)

The Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO was created to recognize a hospital and/or health system CEO who has demonstrated courageous and ethical leadership in addressing the twin issues of affordability and quality of health care in their community.

This year’s recipient will be 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.

The 2025 Recipient

The 2025 Steven Schroeder Award recipient is Mr. Jeffrey A. Flaks, President and CEO of Hartford HealthCare. 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.

Jeffrey A. Flaks

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The award will recognize leadership in measurably reducing patient harm and saving dollars at the same time. Examples of leadership the Award seeks to recognize include:

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 five 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.

Past recipients of the 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, Illinois
• J. Stephen Jones, MD, 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

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Watch Costs of Care Director, Dr. Fumiko Chino, speak about our Mission

Submit Your Nomination*

*All nominees must be CEOs of hospitals and/or health systems that reported to the free, 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

(If your hospital and/or health system did not report to the free survey, but would like to, please visit here for more information.)