WellSpan Evangelical Hospital earns top patient experience award

WellSpan Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg earned the 2026 Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award, a national recognition that puts a spotlight on how patients say they are treated, informed and supported inside the hospital.

For Union County families deciding where to go for routine care, emergency treatment or a referral, the award points to more than a branding boost. It suggests the hospital is performing well in the day-to-day interactions that shape a patient’s stay: doctor communication, nurse communication, staff responsiveness, room cleanliness, quietness, medication explanations and instructions for care after discharge.

Healthgrades described the honor as going to hospitals in the top 10% nationally for patient experience, and its 2026 recipient list said the award winners represented the top 15% of hospitals nationwide. In all, 373 hospitals in 46 states received the recognition, including 25 hospitals in Pennsylvania. To qualify, hospitals had to submit at least 100 patient-experience surveys from admissions between January and December 2024.

The award is based on Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey data collected through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Healthgrades said the 2026 rankings drew from 3,020 hospitals and 10 patient-experience measures. The company also said the three strongest predictors of whether patients would recommend a hospital to friends and family were doctor communication, nurse communication and clear communication about care after discharge.

For Lewisburg and the wider Central Susquehanna Valley, those are the details that matter most. A hospital can post strong clinical results, but patients often judge the experience by whether nurses respond promptly, whether discharge instructions are understandable, and whether the room feels safe and calm enough for recovery. In that sense, the award speaks directly to the parts of care that patients and families feel most acutely.

WellSpan said Evangelical has now received the patient-experience award for seven straight years, from 2020 through 2026, and has ranked among the top 10% of hospitals in the country each year since 2020. The hospital officially joined WellSpan Health on July 8, 2024, giving the local institution a larger system behind it while it continues serving Union County under the WellSpan name.

That local identity still carries weight. Evangelical Community Hospital dates to 1926, and its century-long presence in Lewisburg has made it a familiar option for residents who want care close to home. The latest recognition suggests that, inside a larger regional system with more than 21,000 team members, about 2,000 employed providers, 220 locations and eight award-winning hospitals, the Lewisburg hospital is still being judged on something very local: whether patients feel heard, informed and cared for when it counts most.