New Hospital Safety Score App (Free for Download) Gives Consumers Access to Grades of Local Hospitals for Quick Comparison

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The national nonprofit the Leapfrog Group today announced the Hospital Safety Score(SM) app, now available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices, rating hospitals throughout the country on errors, accidents and infections. The app, which can be downloaded by visiting www.hospitalsafetyscore.org, locates and assigns letter grades to more than 2,600 general hospitals in the U.S., giving users an instant method of finding the safest hospitals in the vicinity. This is thought to be the first app of its kind devoted exclusively to patient safety ratings.

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Calculated under the guidance of the nation's leading experts in patient safety, the Hospital Safety Score is an A, B, C, D or F score assigned to U.S. hospitals based on preventable medical errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. More than 2,600 general, acute care hospitals across the country are included in the app. The Hospital Safety Score is administered by the independent, national nonprofit organization, The Leapfrog Group, which for over a decade has been the standard for public reporting of patient safety for hospitals in the U.S. 

The Hospital Safety Score app was built by Ringful Health, LLC. The Leapfrog Group suggests that consumers use the Hospital Safety Score app to:

• Research the safety of hospitals in their community
• Have easy access to the Hospital Safety Scores of hospitals in another area while traveling
• Instantly determine the safest hospital for care in the event of an emergency, which can be communicated to an ambulance driver or family member
• Consider the safety of hospitals in a new community when considering a move
• Learn about important precautions to take while hospitalized
• Talk to their doctor or nurse about efforts to improve health care

The Hospital Safety Score app features include:

• GPS-enabled search for all hospitals within 100 miles of the user's geographic location
• Ability to search for hospitals by name, city or state
• Map display of all Hospital Safety Score letter grades in the user's area
• Complete score details for each graded hospital
• Patient's Guide to a Safe Hospital Stay, including questions to ask your doctor and precautions to take in the hospital

Device Requirements:

• Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later
• Requires Android 2.2 and up

Pricing and Availability:

• The Hospital Safety Score app is free in both the iOS and Google Play stores

To download the free app, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org.

About The Leapfrog Group
The Hospital Safety Score (www.hospitalsafetyscore.org)  is an initiative of The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org), a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality, and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals.

SOURCE The Leapfrog Group