The Leapfrog Group Announces 2012 Top Hospitals List

Record number of hospitals make prestigious list, including a record number of 13 Top Rural Hospitals

BALTIMORE, Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Leapfrog Group announced its annual list of Top Hospitals today at its Annual Meeting. The Top Hospital designation, which is the most competitive national hospital quality award in the country, recognizes hospitals that deliver the highest quality care by preventing medical errors, reducing mortality for high-risk procedures like heart bypass surgery, and reducing hospital readmissions for patients being treated for conditions like pneumonia and heart attack. For the first time, in addition to meeting the elite quality and resource use standards under Leapfrog, winning hospitals must now also earn an A from Leapfrog's newest initiative, the Hospital Safety Score, if they met eligibility criteria to receive a grade. This year's Top Hospital list includes a record 13 Top Rural Hospitals, 67 Top Urban Hospitals, and 12 Top Children's Hospitals. 

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090818/LEAPFROGLOGO)

While several agencies and organizations collect and publicize hospital quality data, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey is the toughest standard-bearer and provides the most complete picture of a hospital's safety, quality, and resource use performance. The survey focuses on three critical areas of hospital care: (1) how patients fare, (2) resources used to care for patients, and (3) management practices that promote safety and quality. In each of the three domains, Leapfrog asks hospitals to report on nationally standardized measures so healthcare consumers can compare hospitals in their community and across the country.

"Leapfrog holds hospitals to a fixed set of defined and transparent standards that are extremely high, and only the hospitals that meet those standards earn the distinction. This year we raised the bar for achieving this award, and still we had a record number of hospitals which met the standards, including a record number of top rural hospitals," said Leah Binder, President & CEO of The Leapfrog Group.

"Employers and other large healthcare benefits purchasers look to The Leapfrog Group to identify high- performing hospitals," said Keith Reissaus, Leapfrog Board chair and vice president of Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana, Inc. "Leapfrog's members and supporters believe that all hospitals can reach the high standards achieved by these Top Hospitals, and we look forward to a day when all communities can have a Top Hospital that serves them.  These hospitals in rural communities prove that hospitals of any shape, size, and demographic can achieve the highest levels of performance."

This Top Hospitals announcement comes on the heels of The Leapfrog Group's release of updated Hospital Safety Scores last week.  The Hospital Safety Score—an  A, B, C, D, or F score assigned to a hospital based on expert analysis of infections, injuries, and medical and medication errors that frequently cause harm or death during a hospital stay—looks closely at how safe hospitals are for patients.  Hospitals receiving the Top Hospital acknowledgment today also had to receive an A on the Hospital Safety Score if they were eligible to be scored.  Beyond showing excellence in patient safety reflected in the A, the Top Hospitals have demonstrated the highest standards in quality of care and resource use.  Top Hospitals have lower infection rates, higher survival rates for high-risk procedures, decreased length of stay, and fewer readmissions.

The hospitals will be honored at the Leapfrog Group's 2012 Annual Meeting in Baltimore on December 4th, where the group focused on hospital transparency as the key to improved patient safety. The 2012 Top Hospital list is culled from a field of nearly 1200 hospitals that voluntarily and publicly report their performance by participating in the Leapfrog Hospital Survey.  A complete list of 2012 Leapfrog Top Hospitals and the survey results for all participating hospitals are posted on www.leapfroggroup.org. The site is open to patients and families, the public, and employers and other purchasers of healthcare.

About The Leapfrog Group
The Hospital Safety Score 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. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders, and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.

2012 Leapfrog Top Hospitals
Banner Desert Medical Center (AZ)
Mayo Clinic Hospital, Phoenix (AZ)
Kaiser Permanente Antioch Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Richmond Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center (CA)
Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center (CA)
Stanford Hospital & Clinics (CA)
Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center (CA)
University of California Davis Medical Center (CA)
Mayo Clinic Hospital, Jacksonville (FL)
The Queen's Medical Center (HI)
Central DuPage Hospital, a member of Cadence Health (IL)
NorthShore Evanston Hospital (IL)
NorthShore Glenbrook Hospital (IL)
Northwest Community Healthcare (IL)
Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital (IL)
Northwestern Memorial Hospital (IL)
Rush University Medical Center (IL)
St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital (IN)
Baystate Medical Center (MA)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (MA)
Boston Medical Center (MA)
Brigham and Women's Hospital (MA)
Sturdy Memorial Hospital (MA)
Cooley Dickinson Hospital (MA)
Anne Arundel Medical Center (MD)
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore (MD)
University of Maryland Medical Center (MD)
Central Maine Medical Center (ME)
Pen Bay Medical Center (ME)
DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital (MI)
DMC Harper University Hospital (MI)
DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital (MI)
Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital (MI)
Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital (MI)
St. Joseph Mercy Oakland (MI)
University of Michigan Health System (MI)
Regions Hospital (MN)
Mayo Clinic – Saint Marys Hospital, Rochester (MN)
Duke University Hospital (NC)
Hackensack University Medical Center (NJ)
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (NJ)
The Valley Hospital (NJ)
Roswell Park Cancer Institute (NY)
OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital (OH)
The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OH)
The Christ Hospital (OH)
University Hospitals Case Medical Center (OH)
Lehigh Valley Hospital (PA)
Vanderbilt University Hospital (TN)
Inova Fair Oaks Hospital (VA)
Swedish Medical Center/First Hill (WA)
Virginia Mason Medical Center (WA)
Bellin Hospital (WI)

2012 Leapfrog Top Rural Hospitals
Florida Hospital Wauchula (FL)
Grinnell Regional Medical Center (IA)
Blessing Hospital (IL)
Fairview Hospital (MA)
Calais Regional Hospital (ME)
Inland Hospital (ME)
Mount Desert Island Hospital Organization (ME)
Rumford Hospital (ME)
Sebasticook Valley Health (ME)
OSF St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group (MI)
Geisinger Medical Center (PA)
Baptist Easley Hospital (SC)
Takoma Regional Hospital (TN)

2012 Leapfrog Top Children's Hospitals
Phoenix Children's Hospital (AZ)
Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CA)
Children's National Medical Center (DC)
Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children (DE)
Children's Mercy Hospitals South Campus (KS)
Boston Children's Hospital (MA)
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota – St. Paul (MN)
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (OH)
Nationwide Children's Hospital (OH)
Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt (TN)
Cook Children's Medical Center (TX)
MultiCare Mary Bridge Children's Hospital & Health Center (WA)

SOURCE The Leapfrog Group