Harrisburg, PA (August 25, 2026) – The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) announced today the health care teams being honored this year for championing organ, eye, and issue donation within their hospitals and communities.
The annual HAP Donate Life Pennsylvania Hospital Challenge encourages Pennsylvania hospitals to increase donation awareness. HAP partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the two organ procurement organizations serving Pennsylvania—the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) and Gift of Life Donor Program—to support the challenge.
During National Donate Life Month in April, participating hospitals supported donation through activities such as internal trainings and coordination meetings, campaigns to register new organ donors, community events, and public communications. Hospitals earned titanium, platinum, gold, silver, or bronze recognition for their efforts.
This year, 113 Pennsylvania hospitals participated in the challenge. HAP applauds its members’ commitment to supporting and raising awareness of organ, eye, and tissue donation. One donor can save up to eight lives and enhance up to 75 others.
“Each organ, eye, and tissue donor has the power to save lives and offer hope to patients and families facing some of their most difficult moments,” said HAP President and CEO Nicole Stallings. “Pennsylvania hospitals and our partners continue to lead by raising awareness about the importance of donation and encouraging more people to register as donors. We applaud the hospital teams participating in this year’s challenge for their commitment to strengthening the health of their communities.”
The top performers of the 2026 HAP Donate Life Pennsylvania Hospital Challenge are:
CORE Top Performers (Western Pennsylvania) Top Health Systems
- First Place: Allegheny Health Network
- Second Place: Independence Health System
- Third Place: Conemaugh Health System
Top Hospitals
- First Place: UPMC Presbyterian Hospital
- Second Place: AHN Allegheny General Hospital
- Third Place: UPMC Passavant
Gift of Life Donor Program Top Performers (Eastern Pennsylvania) Top Health Systems
- First Place: Temple Health
- Second Place: Penn Medicine
- Third Place: Tower Health
Top Hospitals
- First Place: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
- Second Place: Temple University Hospital
- Third Place: Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
A full list of hospital designations resulting from the challenge and more information about the scoring process are available online.
“Organ and tissue donation enriches and saves lives and leaves a deeply meaningful legacy,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen. “Registering to be a donor is quick and easy. Please take one minute today to make this life-changing decision, knowing that you could save up to eight lives and enhance even more.”
“When hospitals and donation professionals work together, the gift of organ donation becomes possible, giving donor families comfort in knowing their loved one’s legacy lives on and transplant recipients the priceless gift of more time. The HAP Donate Life Pennsylvania Hospital Challenge recognizes the importance of this partnership, celebrating hospitals that have made donation a priority by fostering a culture where it is understood, supported and embraced,” said Deborah Maurer, RN, MBA, President and CEO of CORE. “Every day, together, we honor the generosity of donors and their families by ensuring every donation opportunity is recognized and every generous decision has the chance to save and heal lives, bringing hope to the more than 109,000 people waiting for a transplant nationwide, including more than 6,000 Pennsylvanians.”
“Every organ donor is supported by a dedicated team of healthcare professionals who embrace the opportunity to help our team save lives and ensure every donor family is provided compassionate care and honored for their decision to donate, ” said Richard D. Hasz, Jr., MFS, CPTC, President and CEO of Gift of Life Donor Program. “The HAP Donate Life Pennsylvania Hospital Challenge celebrates hospitals that are leading the way by building a strong culture of donation. We applaud their commitment, which helps save more lives today while setting a higher standard for tomorrow. Together, we will continue to work toward a future where every patient in need of a transplant receives a second chance at life.”
About HAP: HAP is a statewide membership services organization that represents 235 hospitals as well as the patients and communities they serve. Additional information about HAP is available online.
About CORE: The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) is one of the more than 50 federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the United States, serving more than five million people in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. CORE coordinates the recovery and matching of organs, tissues and corneas for transplant within our service region, and works tirelessly to create a culture of donation within the hospitals and communities we serve. CORE’s mission is to Save and Heal lives through donation, ultimately ending the deaths of those on the transplant waiting list, while maintaining integrity for the donation process, dignity for the donors, and compassion for their families. For more information, visit www.core.org or call 1-800-DONORS-7.
About Gift of Life Donor Program: Gift of Life Donor Program, founded in 1974 and headquartered in Philadelphia, is the federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) for the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware serving 11.3 million people. It works with 123 acute care hospitals and 12 transplant centers in its region, as well as hundreds of transplant centers throughout the country, to provide the most comprehensive array of services available in the U.S. to the donation and transplantation community. Thanks to the generosity of its community, Gift of Life has coordinated 15,586 donors and 43,108 organs for transplants, the most of any OPO in the country since the start of our national donation system in 1988. In addition, Gift of Life has coordinated more than two million tissue transplants. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and a tissue donor can improve the lives of 100 others. Learn more and sign up at donors1.org.
About Donate Life Pennsylvania: Donate Life Pennsylvania is a collaborative initiative between the Pennsylvania departments of Health, Education and Transportation and Pennsylvania’s two organ procurement organizations, the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) and Gift of Life Donor Program (GOL). It is funded by residents of Pennsylvania through voluntary contributions included with driver’s license renewals, vehicle registrations and state income tax filings or direct donations to the Governor Robert P. Casey Memorial Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Trust Fund in care of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Trust Fund contributions are used to educate Pennsylvanians, build awareness about the importance of organ and tissue donation, and increase the number of people who sign up to become organ donors on their driver’s license or state identification card. More information is available at donatelifepa.org or facebook.com/DonateLifePennsylvania.