Leapfrog Group publishes first top hospital list

WASHINGTON--The Leapfrog Group has published its first Top Hospitals list based on results from its national quality and safety survey.

Fifty-nine of the 1,263 hospitals participating in the survey made the list. They include 50 general hospitals and nine children's hospitals.

California led the list with 12 hospitals, followed by Ohio with six, and Massachusetts with five. Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin each had three hospitals make the list, while Illinois, Michigan and Washington each had two hospitals on the list. States with one hospital on the Leapfrog list were Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey collects data from hospitals in their progress toward implementing practices in four areas: computerized physician order entry; intensive care staffing by intensivists, or ICU specialists; evidence-based hospital referral; and an overall score for how well they are progressing in 27 other safe practice areas endorsed by the National Quality Forum.

The Top Hospitals fully meet Washington-based Leapfrog's standard for intensive care unit staffing and the overall Leapfrog Safe Practices Score. The adult hospitals also meet Leapfrog's standards for two or more of the high-risk procedures or conditions included in the evidence-based hospital referral standard. Full implementation of computerized physician order entry and hospitals' ranking on total points for the Safe Practices Score were used to break any ties.

The Leapfrog Web site displays each participating hospital's results, which is based on data collected and analyzed by Thomson Medstat.

To view the Top Hospitals list, go to www.leapfroggroup.org.