Suggested Content
- Leapfrog Group names top hospitals for 2011
- Leapfrog warns of CPOE errors
- Leapfrog names 65 best hospitals in the country for 2010
- Leapfrog warns of CPOE errors
- Leapfrog sounds alarm on untested CPOE
- Leapfrog names 45 best hospitals in country for 2009
- Hospitals shun life-saving IT
- Leapfrog Group picks top hospitals, raises patient-safety bar
- Get CPOE done right to prevent serious errors, Leapfrog warns
- HHS gives 6 more states $181M in HIX funding
WASHINGTON – The Leapfrog Group released last month its list of 2008 Top Hospitals, an achievement measured by the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the industry standard for evaluating hospital patient safety.
The number of top hospitals - 26 hospitals and seven children’s hospitals - selected for 2008 is down from last year as a result of the Leapfrog Group adding more requirements and progress reports on other patient-safety areas, in addition to the four critical areas it already evaluates, said CEO Leah Binder.
“We are lifting the bar, upping the standards, by requiring hospitals to achieve our requirement of CPOE,” she said.
To comply, hospitals must not only have a CPOE system in place but test their system using Leapfrog Group’s CPOE Evaluation Tool. Leapfrog Group then scores the test results to ensure that the CPOE system flags common, serious prescribing errors for providers.
“We really believe it is time for every hospital to have CPOE,” Binder said.
The Leapfrog Group also added these requirements:
• Participation in other public reporting initiatives;
• Adherence to Leapfrog’s “Never Events” policy;
• Efficiency of resources used for coronary artery bypass graft, percutaneous coronary interventions, acute myocardial infarction and pneumonia
The standard four critical areas that hospitals must address are:
• Do physicians enter prescriptions and other orders into computers linked to medication error prevention software? And are those systems tested to assure that users are warned about
serious prescribing errors?
• How well do hospitals perform seven complex high-risk procedures and care for high-risk deliveries?
• Are hospital intensive care units (ICUs) staffed by qualified specialists?
• Do hospitals have safety practices and policies advocated by the National Quality Forum to reduce harm and errors?
A recent study published in the June issue of the Journal on Quality and Patient Safety revealed that high-performing hospitals on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey have lower mortality and better quality of care than lower-performing or non-participating hospitals.
