The national nonprofit organization Leapfrog Group (“Leapfrog”) recently released its updated Hospital Safety ScoreSM, a searchable database of patient safety scores for over 2,500 acute care hospitals. The safety scores, which are provided as a letter grade, are calculated using 26 safety measures and are based in part on publicly-available data from CMS. Leapfrog also calculates its safety scores using, among other things, hospitals’ responses to a survey the organization conducts each year. Leapfrog last released its safety scores in November 2012.
According to the Hospital Safety ScoreSM website, Leapfrog’s key findings include:
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Of the 2,514 hospitals scored by Leapfrog, 780 hospitals received an “A;” 638 received a “B;” 932 received a “C;” 148 received a “D;” and 16 received an “F.”
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Nearly 74 percent of the scored hospitals maintained the same grade from Leapfrog’s November 2012 scores.
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The five states with the highest percentage of A-rated hospitals were Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Virginia and Illinois.
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The biggest change in an individual safety measure from the last round of safety scores was for Computerized Physician Order Entry, with more progress being made in implementing systems for electronic orders.
Critical access hospitals, long-term care facilities, surgical centers and certain other facilities were not scored and are omitted from the Hospital Safety ScoreSM database.
To search for individual hospital scores on the Hospital Safety ScoreSM website, click here. To learn more about Leapfrog and its scoring methodology, click here.
Reporter, Greg Sicilian, Atlanta, +1 404 572 2810, gsicilian@kslaw.com.
