Recognitions for exceptional care keep coming in
By Amy Blasing, Saint Joseph Hospital President
Last month, we shared the exciting news that Saint Joseph Hospital was named the No. 1 hospital in Colorado by U.S. News & World Report. I’m pleased to say the celebrations and recognition of our exceptional care continue.
Vizient has recognized Saint Joseph with its 2026 Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award for excellence in clinical quality and patient care in the Complex Care Medical Center category. The award honors hospitals that excel in the Vizient Quality and Accountability Study, which evaluates performance in six areas: safety, mortality, effectiveness, efficiency, patient centeredness, and variation in care, using 2025–2026 data.
Saint Joseph was also designated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as the first and only hospital in Colorado to achieve Magnet with Distinction. This marks our third Magnet designation, following our initial recognition in 2017. In 2022, the ANCC introduced Magnet with Distinction to honor hospitals that exceed the already rigorous standards of the Magnet Recognition Program. Although this distinction is rooted in nursing excellence, it reflects the contributions of all our caregivers, leaders, physicians, and APPs who made it possible.
I am incredibly proud of our Saint Joseph caregivers for earning these national accolades. It reflects your unwavering commitment to safe, high-quality, patient-centered care and gives our patients and their families confidence that they can count on us when they need us most.
This praise comes as Saint Joseph continues to grow. In August, we saw increased emergency department visits, admissions, and deliveries, while surgical volumes continued their steady climb.
We are supporting that growth by recruiting new physicians and expanding services. Recent additions include:
Dr. Chelsea Lau, medical oncologist, who has joined our outpatient cancer center.
Dr. Carson Maynard, Dr. Nicole Swavely, and Dr. Sonia Khatter, rheumatologists, who have joined our medical staff. Our first rheumatology clinic will open in the East Campus building in early October, followed by a second clinic at our Northglenn campus.
A new podiatry residency will begin in the coming weeks, with the podiatry residency clinic located in the Uptown Caritas Clinic.
We are also thrilled to welcome Dr. Jerry Moser to the Saint Joseph senior leadership team as our new chief medical officer. Since joining us earlier this month, he has hit the ground running. If you have not yet had the opportunity to meet him, I know he looks forward to connecting with you soon.
To celebrate this momentum and our expanding team, I hope you will join us for a reception welcoming the newest physician members of our medical staff. This informal evening will be an opportunity to meet our new physicians and connect with colleagues, business leaders, and community partners. Please make plans to attend as we strengthen relationships and extend a warm welcome to our newest colleagues.
Please note the change in location! This special event now will be held in our Medical Pavilion.
To RSVP or ask questions, please contact our events team at peaks_events@imail.org.
I recognize these are uncertain times, yet I remain optimistic about the future of Saint Joseph Hospital. That confidence comes in large part from your commitment to our mission, our community, and the patients we are privileged to serve.
I am deeply grateful to work alongside you, and I look forward to all the good yet to be.
Amy