For Children’s of Alabama, 2025 was a big year for awards, as the hospital received the following recognitions as a great place for both patients and employees.
Recipients join an elite group of winners who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to improving the care experience, earning top satisfaction ratings from patients and their families. Children’s was selected for its first-place ranking in Excellence in Patient Experience among Pediatric Hospitals. Winners are annually selected based on receipt of exceptional real-time patient and family feedback.
“We are honored by NRC Health’s recognition of Children’s of Alabama with this award,” said Beth Rocker, associate vice president of customer service at Children’s. “Our dedicated care teams and employees work together to provide exceptional family-centered care for our patients and their families, ensuring they have the best experience possible. We are humbled by the trust our patients and their families have in us, and we’re grateful for their invaluable feedback that helps us continue improving the care we provide.”
After serving as interim chair for five months, Yung Lau, M.D., was officially named chair of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief at Children’s of Alabama in March 2025. The only real change, Lau said, was that he could now formally begin planning for the future. His vision for the department is expansive—centered on collaboration and faculty support. But he believes the path to those big goals lies in the small things everyone does every day.
Lau stepped into the interim chair role in November 2024, following the announcement that then-chair Mitch Cohen, M.D., would be departing at year’s end to join Stanford. “Dr. Cohen led for a decade and helped build this department into a strong and vibrant group,” Lau said. “It has consistently thrived, and I’ve considered it a privilege to be a part of the department as a faculty member for over three decades. Now, it’s an awesome responsibility to carry on this tradition of excellence.”
Tom Shufflebarger, president and CEO of Children’s of Alabama, was named Secretary-Treasurer of the Alabama Hospital Association (AlaHA) Board of Trustees and President of the Association’s Birmingham Regional Council.
The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) Lantern Award is a recognition given to emergency departments that exemplify exceptional practice and innovative performance in the core areas of leadership, practice, education, advocacy, and research. As an avenue to demonstrate an emergency department’s accomplishments in incorporating evidence-based practice and innovation into emergency care, this award is a visible symbol of an emergency department’s commitment to quality and safety and the presence of a healthy work environment.
The Children’s of Alabama ECMO once again received the ELSO Award for Excellence, Gold Level, from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO). This prestigious honor highlights the team’s strong commitment to the highest standards of patient care, safety, and continuous quality improvement in extracorporeal life support. The ELSO Award for Excellence signifies that a center meets or surpasses international benchmarks for ECMO performance, training, and patient outcomes. It acknowledges dedication to high clinical standards, thorough staff education, innovation in ECMO research, and ongoing contributions to the global ECMO community.
Children’s hosted nine surveyors from the Joint Commission over a three-day period in September 2025, and the survey team was impressed with the hospital’s culture of safety, customer service, hospitality, and passion. Overall, the survey went well, with the lead surveyor stating, “This is the best survey I have completed in 30 years.” The Joint Commission team was highly complimentary of Children’s staff and level of engagement.
In March, the Behavioral Health division partnered with the accreditation department to have a four-day on-site visit with the Joint Commission Resource team. The results of the survey were encouraging with minimal findings. In the closing session, during which the lead surveyor presents the findings, the following comment was made: "I always list in my report for organizations to benchmark with other centers to gain information on how others are doing great work. I have listed that here, but you should know that other organizations should really be reaching out and benchmarking with you. You all are doing really great work here.”
The following pediatric practices earned National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition. In order to achieve this recognition, a practice must meet certain standards that emphasize the use of systematic, patient-centered coordinated care.
In the spring, the nine Children’s pediatric practices listed below received their biennial Commission on Laboratory Accreditation (COLA) Laboratory Inspections, and none received any citations. Four (denoted by *) were selected as recipients of the COLA Laboratory Excellence Award. This award signifies the laboratory’s commitment to performing quality patient testing and superior overall laboratory practices. The Laboratory Excellence Award is achieved by COLA laboratories compliant with all COLA essential and required criteria at the time of their on-site survey. In addition, award recipients must have successful proficiency testing for the prior three testing events and have no substantiated complaints against the laboratory.
