ATLANTA, GA - A new national awards program, called the Hospital Charitable Service Awards, has been created to celebrate and encourage the spread of the nation's most innovative charitable hospital programs.  Hospital nominations are currently being sought for the awards, which are sponsored by Atlanta-based Jackson Healthcare.

The focus of the awards program is to find, reward and share the stories of hospitals that consistently push beyond their core mission of providing essential healthcare services and generously give back to the communities they serve.  The program also seeks to foster a collaborative spirit among hospitals to spread their successes to other communities and health systems.

"Our goal is to promote and support organizations setting new standards in their outreach efforts; hospitals that offer positive stories that capture the spirit of true care," said Charles R. Evans, FACHE, who serves as the awards chairman.  "Too much attention has been focused on what's wrong with healthcare.  It's time to recognize and share what's right."

Nominee stories will be promoted through the awards website and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.  Any hospital community program is eligible for nomination.  A board of advisors, consisting of veteran healthcare executives, will use traditional community benefit activities as the basis for the awards.  However, according to Evans, "We want to recognize and reward programs that go above and beyond the traditional definitions of community benefit and charity care - programs that identify and invest in tangible community needs."

Hospitals interested in nominating one or more programs can learn more by visiting the awards website at www.HospitalCharitableServiceAwards.org. 

Nominate a hospital today.  

For more information contact Keith Jennings at 678.690.7942 or kjennings @ jacksonhealthcare.com.

About Jackson Healthcare 

Founded by the healthcare innovator Richard Jackson, Jackson Healthcare serves more than two million patients in nearly one thousand hospitals each year.  The Jackson family of companies provides physician and clinician staffing, anesthesia management and healthcare information technology solutions proven to improve clinical and financial outcomes, as well as increase operational efficiency.  Jackson Healthcare has earned national media coverage for its physician polls and champions local and international charitable work.  In addition, Jackson has been recognized as one of the largest and fastest growing staffing companies in the country by the Inc. Magazine, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Georgia Trend and Staffing Industry Analysts.  For more information about Jackson and its companies, visit JacksonHealthcare.com.

A new national awards program, called the Hospital Charitable Service Awards, has been created to celebrate and encourage the spread of the nation's most innovative charitable hospital programs.