Illinois Hospitals Receive New Patient Safety Grades
Grades assigned to 112 hospitals in Illinois, continued emphasis on safety needed
CHICAGO – New Hospital Patient Safety Scores on Illinois hospitals were released today by The Leapfrog Group highlighting the importance of patient safety. The scores, which show as grades A through F, are assigned to more than 2,500 U.S. general hospitals and are reflective of how a hospital meets national patient safety measures related to preventable infections, injuries and errors. In Illinois, grades were assigned to 112 hospitals, with 45% receiving an A grade.
The Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), the Leapfrog Group’s Illinois Regional Rollout leader, and a non-profit organization representing employer purchasers of health care, annually encourages Illinois hospitals to participate in Leapfrog’s online patient safety survey. The Hospital Safety Score, which comes out in the spring and fall each year, includes both Leapfrog and other national metrics. Though 19% of the 112 Illinois hospitals improved their scores this fall, approximately the same percentage of hospitals received a reduced grade. While 45% of Illinois hospitals received an A grade, for the first time none of the state’s facilities received the bottom score. The results indicate that while improvement continues, there is a need for continued emphasis on maintaining and expanding efforts on patient safety and high quality care.
“The more patients know about their local hospitals, the better choices they can make when it comes to their own health,” said Larry Boress, MBGH president and CEO. “Since hospital errors are the third-leading cause of death in the United States, selecting where to get your medical care is crucial to a good outcome. We hope these hospitals will continue to strive for a consistent level of safety excellence and that other Illinois hospitals will follow that example.”
The Hospital Safety Score is designed to give the public information they can use to protect themselves and their families whenever faced with a hospital stay. The Score is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer-reviewed, 100% transparent and free to the public. A full analysis of the data and methodology used in determining grades is available on Leapfrog’s newly re-launched website, which now also includes consumer-friendly videos and tips for patients and their loved ones.
“We want to turn patients into savvy health care shoppers by enabling them to take an active role in selecting a hospital. By evaluating hospitals based on important safety measures and grading them accordingly, we can help consumers make smarter choices for themselves and their families,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, which administers the Hospital Safety Score. “Those hospitals receiving an ‘A’ today should be proud of their record, as they are helping us to raise the standards of health care and transparency nationwide. The local community should take note of that.”
Boress added,” Consumers should use every resource available to ensure the best outcomes themselves when planning for a hospital visit, including reviewing the Hospital Safety Score. We’ll continue to use the Score as a tool to educate the public, while working with physicians, nurses and other clinicians to improve patient safety in Illinois.”
MBGH uses the Hospital Safety Score and other Leapfrog programs to:
- Educate consumers about patient safety and the importance of being a partner with their physician in making health care treatment decisions.
- Communicate and work with hospitals and health plans to encourage all hospitals to set goals for achieving an A score.
- Work with employers and other health care purchasers to promote quality and cost transparency of health care providers for contracting, network development and to spur safety improvements in our health care system.
Calculated under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Panel of patient safety experts, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall performance in patient safety. Leapfrog’s Score is the only tool available today that focuses exclusively on errors, injuries and infections.
For more information on the Hospital Safety Score, or to find out the score of your local hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org. A Hospital Safety Score mobile app is also available for download.
About the Midwest Business Group on Health
With more than 120 member organizations, the Midwest Business Group on Health is one of the nation’s leading non-profit business groups of large, self-insured public and private employers serving as a catalyst for community initiatives to improve the quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of the health care delivery system. MBGH is an essential resource to support employers in effectively managing their health benefits through high-quality education, research, networking and benchmarking. MBGH is a founding member of the National Business Coalition on Health.
About The Leapfrog Group
The Hospital Safety Score is an initiative of The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.
For further information about this release and MBGH, contact: Cary Conway, MBGH Media Consultant