Even though 2025 is fading in the rearview mirror, OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony’s Health Center is still beaming with pride and humility in comprehending the milestones and benchmarks that the previous calendar year brought to its health care Ministry in the Riverbend region.
“Our Mission of ‘serving with the greatest care and love’ fuels our motivation with a special purpose to provide for the total well-being of those we serve,” says Lisa Schepers, DNP, MBA, RN, NE-BC, interim president, OSF Saint Anthony’s. “Any year can be special for a variety of reasons, but 2025 truly stands out because our more than 400+ Mission Partners (i.e. employees) demonstrated their commitment to being leaders in the health care field in the communities we serve in and around Alton.”
Foremost in 2025 was OSF Saint Anthony’s celebrating its 100th jubilee. And even with a century’s worth of technological and societal advances, Sister M. Beata Ziegler, F.S.G.M., Vice President of Operations and Special Projects, OSF Saint Anthony’s, says the care and compassion of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George, who came to Alton on April 1, 1925, and officially opened the hospital on October 1, 1925, has been a through line for the hospital from its inception to today.
“One of the greatest things that we’ve offered anyone who walks through our doors is that they will be treated with genuine respect and dignity,” Ziegler says. “Whoever comes to us in need, experiences that. They really are cared for as individuals.”
The individualized high-level of care that emanates from OSF Saint Anthony’s was characterized in 2025 by the hospital receiving seven (7) significant recognitions demonstrating its commitment to clinical excellence and quality and safety.
Most significant was the hospital receiving its first-ever Magnet® Recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). More importantly, this recognition came "with distinction," making OSF Saint Anthony’s the 46th hospital in the United States to be recognized with this award.
Magnet with Distinction™ recognizes hospitals based on quality patient care and nursing excellence. Fewer than eight (8) percent of hospitals in the U.S. have earned Magnet with Distinction status. Additionally, the Magnet with Distinction™ program was created as a special designation to "celebrate hospitals and health care organizations that exceed scoring thresholds required to earn Magnet designation."
Receiving the “Magnet with Distinction” honor at that time was even more impressive in the following ways:
- Being one of only 47 hospitals internationally to have earned the "Magnet with Distinction" honor to recognize an "elite level" of performance, according to the ANCC.
- Being one (1) of only seven (7) hospitals in Illinois to receive “Magnet with Distinction” status, and the only hospital south of Champaign-Urbana to receive this specific designation.
- Being the ONLY hospital in the greater St. Louis metro area on both sides of the Mississippi River to receive “Magnet with Distinction” status.
The ANCC Magnet Recognition Program recognizes health care organizations that demonstrate excellence in nursing philosophy and practice, leadership and adherence to national standards for improving patient care. Hospitals undergo a rigorous evaluation that includes extensive interviews and review of nursing services, clinical outcomes and patient care.
Schepers adds that this recognition means a lot to the Riverbend region, as residents can trust OSF St. Anthony’s to take care of them. “Riverbend residents should feel amazing and proud that OSF Saint Anthony’s represents them in their community. Also, they should feel secure in the knowledge that when they come to OSF St. Anthony’s, they are going to get the highest level of care. Their outcomes are going to be better because the nurses are so engaged, and the nurses have demonstrated this high level of performance.”
In November 2025, for the fourth consecutive time during the prior 24 months, OSF Saint Anthony’s was the only hospital in the Riverbend region to receive national distinction for achievements in prioritizing patient safety by protecting patients from preventable harm and errors.
OSF Saint Anthony’s earned an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit watchdog, for the Fall 2025 reporting period. OSF Saint Anthony’s also received an “A” grade from The Leapfrog Group during the Spring 2025, Fall 2024 and Spring 2024 reporting periods.
While receiving an “A” grade from The Leapfrog Group is a very notable achievement in and of itself, especially no less than in four consecutive reporting periods, OSF Saint Anthony’s Fall 2025 “A” grade was also significant because:
- No other hospital in the state of Illinois south of Macomb, basically encompassing the lower two-thirds of the state, received an “A” grade from The Leapfrog Group for the Fall 2025 reporting period.
- No other hospital in the greater metro St. Louis, MO, area on both sides of the Mississippi River, which includes Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois, received an “A” grade from The Leapfrog Group during both 2025 reporting periods (spring and fall).
Schepers emphasizes that the hospital receiving four (4) consecutive “A” grades is further fact that patient safety is always at the forefront of patient care at OSF Saint Anthony’s. “This is by no means a small accomplishment. It takes a total mind set of being ‘all in’ from our physicians, nurses and staff of making the commitment - and then a daily demonstration of discipline - to providing the safest, high-quality care to those we serve every day.”
Also in 2025, for the second consecutive year, OSF Home Health at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony’s Health Center was recognized by Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP) as a “Superior Performer” for achieving an overall patient experience score that ranked in the top 20% of all eligible SHP clients for the 2023 and 2024 calendar years.
The annual SHPBest™ award program was created to acknowledge home health agencies that consistently provide high quality service to their patients. “This recognition underscores our continued commitment to providing high-quality, compassionate home care services,” says Michelle Davis, RN, BSN, Manager, Alton Home Health Care and Hospice, OSF HealthCare. “The dedication that our Mission Partners have to serving with the greatest care and love serves as the foundation of our work in receiving this award for two years in a row.”
Recognition for clinical excellence continued for OSF Saint Anthony’s in 2025 as its stroke care program:
- Received, for the third consecutive year, the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Gold Plus quality achievement award for the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability. Also for the third consecutive year, OSF Saint Anthony’s received the American Heart Association’s Target: StrokeSM Elite Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with thrombolytic therapy. And for the second consecutive year, OSF Saint Anthony’s was awarded the American Heart Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. Target: Type 2 Diabetes aims to ensure patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke.
- Once again received certification, continuously going back to 2013, from The Joint Commission for upholding the highest standards of quality and safety for the hospital’s patients, workforce and community.
Rounding out the clinical excellence recognitions for OSF Saint Anthony’s last year included the Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) awarding accreditation to the Laboratory Services department. Recognized for rigorous and robust standards, CAP accreditation elevates quality and mitigates risk, an important way that laboratories can contribute to improved patient outcomes. The CAP reaccreditation was a two-year renewal of an existing accreditation held by the hospital.
No less important were the two awards OSF Saint Anthony’s garnered in recognition for exceptional efforts in environmental stewardship and sustainable health care practices. First, the hospital received the Sustainability Champion Award - administered through a sustainability program sponsored by Medtronic, a global health care technology leader in the medical equipment manufacturing sector, is a remarkable achievement that reflects the hospital’s commitment to creating a healthier, more sustainable future for patients, the Riverbend region, and the planet.
OSF Saint Anthony’s also received the prestigious Energy to Care® Sustained Performance Award from the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association. Energy to Care is ASHE’s award-winning program dedicated to helping health care facilities track their energy, water and emissions reduction efforts and celebrates hospitals and health systems that go above and beyond in achieving their environmental impact reduction goals.
"As part of our Mission and our commitment to stewardship, it is essential to care for the environment in which we live. Our sustainability efforts are integral to our health care work,” says Sister M. Beata Ziegler, F.S.G.M.
More information about OSF Saint Anthony’s can be acquired by visiting www.osfsaintanthonys.org.