AvaSure, the leading virtual care platform powering the smart room, announced the recipients of the 2026 AvaPrize Awards during the AvaSure Symposium in Atlanta, Ga. The AvaPrize honors healthcare organizations and individuals demonstrating exceptional leadership, innovation, and impact in advancing patient safety and virtual care delivery. Marking the program’s 10th year, AvaSure also introduced a new special recognition this year, the 10th Anniversary Ambassador Award, honoring an organization whose decade of partnership has helped shape the evolution of virtual care.

“Ten years of AvaPrize have shown what’s possible when healthcare organizations commit to reimagining virtual care. The organizations we are recognizing this year, and our inaugural Ambassador Award recipient, reflect that vision in action: leadership, collaboration, and a relentless focus on better outcomes for patients and the caregivers who serve them,” said Lisbeth Votruba, MSN, RN, FAONL, CAVRN, Chief Clinical Officer.

2026 AvaPrize Award Winners

Rookie of the Year Award: KPC Health

KPC Health is recognized for rapidly building clinical engagement and operational adoption following its July virtual care launch, deploying AvaSure’s AI-powered solution across both physician consults and continuous observation. The organization accelerated adoption at a pace typically seen much later in a program’s development and continues to advance its virtual care initiative with an expanding rollout.

Breakthrough Innovation Award: UPMC

UPMC is recognized for its Smart Patient Room design that launches with the opening of their new flagship Kamin Tower in January 2027. By integrating Epic MyChart Bedside and virtual care with state-of-the-art camera technology, patients and their families receive efficient care from anywhere. Also, they’ve scaled their virtual sitting program to 136 devices deployed across 20 hospitals which improved in-person sitter efficiencies by over 50% in just 6 months.

Outstanding Operational Excellence Award: MedStar Health

MedStar Health is recognized for building a mature, high-performing virtual monitoring program. The health system has surpassed 1.2 million monitoring hours and reached 82% device utilization last year, transforming virtual care operations across its 10 hospitals into a consistent, high-performing care model systemwide.

Centralized Care Champion Award: El Camino Health

El Camino Health is recognized as an innovative partner leveraging centralized monitoring across two locations to deliver high utilization and seamless, standardized virtual care, building a sustainable centralized model that supports clinical teams and expands access to virtual care across the organization.

Collaborative Excellence Award: Carilion Clinic

Carilion Clinic is recognized for its enterprise-wide approach to virtual care, bringing together clinical, operational, research and technology teams. The collaboration has also expanded into an active joint research study, carrying the program beyond its original vision and continuing to widen the impact of virtual care across the system.

10th Anniversary Ambassador Award: Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH)

Hackensack Meridian Health is the inaugural recipient of the 10th Anniversary Ambassador Award. Through clinical collaboration, advisory leadership and product innovation, HMH has helped inform AvaSure’s virtual care and Smart Room strategy while advancing an outcomes-driven approach to virtual care. By measuring impact, continuously evolving its programs and openly sharing lessons learned with healthcare leaders across the country, HMH has helped demonstrate what is possible when technology, clinical practice and innovation come together to improve care.

About AvaSure

AvaSure® is the virtual care platform powering the smart room — connecting care teams, clinical workflows, and AI applications to extend the reach of caregivers, advance patient safety, and deliver measurable outcomes across every care setting. The platform meets the highest enterprise IT standards and is backed by a clinical team representing 15% of AvaSure’s staff. With 15+ years of clinical expertise, 1,200+ hospital partners, and experience across 5,000+ deployments, AvaSure consistently delivers 6x ROI and is trusted by health systems across North America. To learn more, visit AvaSure.com.

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