Hartford HealthCare CEO Honored for Architecting Future of Patient Care

HARTFORD, CT – February 02, 2026 – In a move signaling a pivotal shift in how the healthcare industry values technological and human-centric progress, Press Ganey has named Hartford HealthCare’s President and CEO, Jeffrey A. Flaks, as the inaugural recipient of its HX26 Innovator of the Year award. The honor, presented at the influential HX26 Conference in Orlando, recognizes Flaks’s leadership in embedding meaningful innovation into one of Connecticut’s largest health systems, setting a potential new benchmark for the nation.

This new award is not merely another accolade; it is designed to spotlight executives who are actively solving healthcare’s most entrenched problems. The criteria focus on leaders who reduce friction for beleaguered care teams and fundamentally improve how patients access and experience medical care. By selecting Flaks as its first honoree, Press Ganey, a dominant force in healthcare experience measurement and analytics, is championing a leadership model that treats innovation as an operational imperative rather than a peripheral project.

A New Standard for Healthcare Innovation

The significance of the award is amplified by its source. Press Ganey's data and insights shape how thousands of hospitals measure success, making their recognition a powerful industry endorsement. The HX26 Innovator of the Year award was introduced to honor a modern approach to leadership that moves beyond theoreticals and into tangible, daily impact.

Patrick T. Ryan, Chairman and CEO of Press Ganey, framed Flaks’s contributions in terms of duty and execution. "Jeff Flaks treats innovation as a responsibility to move healthcare forward," Ryan stated. "He is relentless in pushing progress that improves safety, expands access, and raises the standard of care. At Hartford HealthCare, Jeff has built the teams, partnerships, and operating discipline needed to scale new models of care without losing sight of reliability and trust." This highlights a key distinction: the award celebrates not just the conception of new ideas, but the difficult work of implementing them reliably across a massive organization.

Flaks’s approach has been to weave advanced capabilities directly into the fabric of clinical and operational workflows. This strategy is guided by a clear mission: making healthcare more accessible, equitable, and simpler for patients to navigate. The result is a system that doesn't just adopt technology for its own sake, but applies it with purpose.

The Blueprint for a Modern Health System

At the heart of Hartford HealthCare’s recognized transformation is a portfolio of initiatives designed to meet patients where they are. The most visible example is HHC 24/7, the system's virtual primary care platform. This service provides patients with round-the-clock access to both scheduled and on-demand clinical care, effectively dismantling traditional barriers of time and distance. It represents a profound reimagining of primary care access, aiming to preserve continuity and quality while enhancing affordability.

Beyond virtual visits, the health system is leveraging artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to streamline processes behind the scenes. These tools are being applied to improve diagnostic accuracy, optimize hospital operations, and predict patient needs before they become critical. This intentional blend of high-tech capabilities is central to the organization's strategy of creating a more responsive and efficient healthcare ecosystem for the more than 28,000 people it serves each day.

This technological framework is built upon a solid foundation of clinical excellence. Hartford HealthCare is the only health system in the country to have been awarded the prestigious Quest for Quality Prize from the American Hospital Association and maintains Leapfrog 'A' ratings for safety across all its hospitals, making it one of the safest systems in the nation. This proves that innovation and foundational quality are not mutually exclusive but are, in fact, mutually reinforcing.

Redefining the 'Human Experience' for Clinicians

A core component of Flaks's philosophy, and a key reason for the Press Ganey recognition, is the understanding that patient experience and clinician experience are inextricably linked. Under his leadership, Hartford HealthCare has made targeted investments in tools and technologies aimed squarely at reducing the administrative burden that contributes to professional burnout. By automating routine tasks and providing smarter clinical support tools, the system aims to empower its 48,000 colleagues to practice at the top of their license and spend more time on direct patient care.

This focus on the workforce is a strategic acknowledgment of a growing crisis in American healthcare. By prioritizing the well-being of its staff, Hartford HealthCare is making a long-term investment in the quality and sustainability of its care delivery. The approach validates the core concept of Press Ganey's "Human Experience" (HX) platform, which posits that a positive environment for employees is a prerequisite for a positive experience for patients, customers, and all stakeholders.

A Pattern of Transformative Leadership

The HX26 Innovator of the Year award is the latest in a series of major national recognitions for Flaks, suggesting a consistent and impactful leadership trajectory. In 2025, he was honored with the Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO, presented by Costs of Care and The Leapfrog Group. That award specifically recognizes courageous leadership in tackling the dual challenges of quality and affordability—a direct reflection of Hartford HealthCare's strategic pillars of Access, Affordability, Health Equity, and Excellence.

Receiving these two distinct awards in consecutive years paints a picture of a leader systematically addressing healthcare’s most pressing challenges from multiple angles: cost, quality, access, and now, the integration of forward-looking innovation.

In accepting the award, Flaks deflected individual praise and credited his entire team. "I'm deeply honored to receive both the HX26 Innovator of the Year and Steven Schroeder awards — recognitions that speak not to an individual, but to the extraordinary commitment of our Hartford HealthCare colleagues," he said. "Our innovation journey is rooted in a simple but profound belief: healthcare should be easier to access, better coordinated, and more equitable for every person we serve. These honors reinforce that when you bring mission and innovation together with compassion and collaboration, the impact reaches far beyond our doors."

As health systems across the country grapple with financial pressures, workforce shortages, and the demand for greater accessibility, the model being forged at Hartford HealthCare offers a compelling and now award-winning vision for a more resilient and responsive future.