The Leapfrog Group Names 94 Top Hospitals in 2014

Honored Hospitals Recognized as the Nation's Premier Institutions for Safety and Quality

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Dec 02, 2014, 08:47 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Leapfrog Group (Leapfrog) will announce its annual list of Top Hospitals today, an elite distinction widely acknowledged as one of the most competitive awards a United States hospital can receive. The award recognizes hospitals that exhibit excellence through the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey in a combination of safety, quality and resource use standards set by Leapfrog, a nonprofit organization representing large purchasers of healthcare advocating for improvement in hospital care.

This year 94 Top Hospitals are being recognized. The Top Rural Hospital award is one of the few distinctions made available for rural and critical access hospitals, and this year rural hospitals excelled, with 25 making the list. They're joined by 60 urban and nine children's hospitals. Other highlights include Massachusetts doubling its number of Top Hospitals with a total of 10 and for the first time, hospitals in Alabama, Kentucky and Rhode Island receiving the award.

"These Top Hospitals represent the best of American healthcare and deserve to be recognized for their commitment to prioritizing the safety and well-being of their patients," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. "The results of the Leapfrog Hospital Survey are used in high-stakes situations like national pay-for-performance programs – it's crucial information used by purchasers, health-plans and consumers to assess the quality and safety of institutions nationwide. That's why we'll continue our push for hospitals to commit to transparency, and that means participating in and fully completing the Survey."

The Leapfrog Hospital Survey compares hospitals' performance on national standards of patient safety, quality, efficiency and management structures that prevent errors. The Survey provides the most comprehensive picture of how patients fare at individual institutions. The data collected also enables hospitals to benchmark their progress and measure the care they deliver.

Demonstrating the highest standards of care, Top Hospitals have lower infection rates, higher survival rates for high-risk procedures, decreased length of stay and fewer readmissions. Among the metrics included in the Leapfrog Hospital Survey are maternity care, evidence of a hospital's ability to prevent medication errors and appropriate staffing to ensure quality of care.

To see the Top Hospitals Methodology and the full list of honorees in 2014, please visit www.leapfroggroup.org/tophospitals.

About The Leapfrog Group
The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) is a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of healthcare to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of healthcare 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. The Hospital Safety Score (www.hospitalsafetyscore.org) is an initiative of The Leapfrog Group.