ANNAPOLIS, MD (December 7, 2011) -- The Leapfrog Group’s annual class of top hospitals – 65 from a field of nearly 1200 – was announced December 6th in Washington, D.C. and included Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) in Annapolis. The announcement came at Leapfrog’s Annual Meeting where the group cele ated the five year anniversary of its ground eaking Never Events Policy.
“To be among the top hospitals in the country for safety and quality illustrates our commitment to outstanding patient care,” said Victoria Bayless, president and CEO, Anne Arundel Medical Center. “Among the goals in our organization’s strategic vision of Living Healthier Together is to provide efficient, responsible and affordable care. This award recognizes the strides we have made to streamline processes to offer high quality care at a lower cost.”
The 2011 list includes university and other teaching hospitals, children’s hospitals and community hospitals in rural, suburban and urban settings. The selection is based on the results of the Leapfrog Group’s national survey that measures hospitals’ performance in crucial areas of patient safety and quality. The results of the survey are posted on a website open to the patients and families, the public and employers and other purchasers of health care. It is the most complete picture available of a hospital’s quality and safety. The website is www.leapfroggroup.org.
“As a resident of Maryland, I am doubly pleased to honor Anne Arundel Medical Center as a 2011 Leapfrog Top Hospital—a distinction that means they meet the toughest national standards for quality and safety,” said Leah Binder, CEO, The Leapfrog Group. “It is gratifying to know that families like mine can be served by a hospital that voluntarily reports information about how it compares to other hospitals to its community and does such an outstanding job.”
The survey, which launched in 2001, focuses on four critical areas of patient safety: the use of computer physician order entry (CPOE) to prevent medication errors; standards for doing high-risk procedures such as heart surgery; protocols and policies to reduce medical errors and other safe practices recommended by the National Quality Forum; and adequate nurse and physician staffing. In addition, hospitals are measured on their progress in preventing infections and other hospital-acquired conditions and adopting policies on the handling of serious medical errors, among other things.
"Anne Arundel Medical Center is a newcomer to the Leapfrog Top Hospitals list, which is especially exciting. The Leapfrog measures are an excellent way to gauge hospital quality, so Anne Arundel Medical Center can be proud of this accomplishment,” said John Miller, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Business Group on Health and Leapfrog’s Regional Roll-Out for Maryland. “In addition to personal safety, there is a cost element to this. On average, the cost of hospital stays for adults who develop health care-associated infections is about $43,000 more expensive. Smart, concerned patients will use AAMC, and smart purchasers will include them in preferred networks."
The Mid Atlantic Business Group on Health is an association of employer health care purchasers that drives cost-effective healthcare, through value-based purchasing. Members are large employers in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
