Contact Geisinger Media Relations

About Geisinger

Geisinger is committed to making better health easier for the more than 1 million people it serves. Founded more than 100 years ago by Abigail Geisinger, the system now includes nine hospital campuses, a 550,000-member health plan, two research centers and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. With nearly 24,000 employees and more than 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger boosts its hometown economies in Pennsylvania by billions of dollars annually.

Information for media

We’re proud to provide the media with accurate, ethical and timely information and access to our healthcare facilities. In return, we ask that you respect our obligation to protect our patients' well-being and legal right to privacy.

We offer media spokespeople on a wide spectrum of medical specialties and sub-specialties. Members of the media can access information from Geisinger 24/7 through our designated media relations staff. Fill out the form on this page to contact us.

Media guidelines

To protect our patients’ well-being and their privacy, we ask that you adhere to and note the following guidelines:

• Only seek information through designated Geisinger media relations staff.
• No information can be provided that violates the confidentiality, privacy or legal rights of patients.
• All visits to Geisinger facilities must be approved in advance by Geisinger media relations staff.
• Identifiable photographs or video of patients taken on Geisinger property will not be published or aired without permission of the patient or patient’s guardian. Media relations staff can help obtain this permission.
• All interviews with patients must be approved in advance by Geisinger media relations staff.
• Access to patients will be arranged if the patient or patient's guardian is willing and his/her condition permits.

Patient information guidelines

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) establishes privacy standards that protect the information we can provide about hospital patients.

Under this law, individuals entering our hospital for any kind of treatment have an opportunity to opt in or opt out of the patient directory.

If the patient "opts in," we can release a one-word condition (see below) about a patient's status upon request from the media. The reporter must provide the patient's first and last name.

If the patient "opts out," or if you do not provide a first and last name, no information can be given.

Patient conditions

• Undetermined
• Good
• Fair
• Serious
• Critical
• Treated and released
• Treated and transferred

Note: "Stable" is not a recognized condition.

How to contact us

From local to national media inquiries, you can contact our media relations team by filling out the form on this page.

If you’re a member of the media seeking a patient condition or have an urgent matter after 5 p.m. on weekdays, on weekends or holidays, call the hospital and ask to speak with the on-call media relations team member.