WASHINGTON – The Leapfrog Group on Wednesday released 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.