December 4, 2012 — Three Detroit Medical Center (DMC) Hospitals – DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital, DMC Harper University/Hutzel Women’s Hospital and DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital –have received the Leapfrog Group’s Top Hospital designation for 2012. Leapfrog Top Hospital is one of the most coveted and exclusive hospital quality awards in the nation.
The Leapfrog Group is the nation’s premier quality ranking agency, acting on behalf of many of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies which seek to improve hospital quality, in order to realize efficiencies in health care costs and to provide the highest quality of care for the millions of people in their employ.
The rankings are based on responses to the 2012 Leapfrog Hospital Survey. Ranking hospitals had to meet stringent Leapfrog standards in the key areas of Preventing Medication Errors, ICU Physician Staffing, high-risk surgeries and procedures, achieve an Over all Value Score of 69 or more, and receive an “A” grade in the Hospital Safety Score.
Four DMC Hospitals, including the three earning the 2012 Top Hospital designation, earned an “A” grade in both Leapfrog safety assessments for 2012. The most recent grades were released last week.
“This latest achievement demonstrates why DMC was chosen to become one of only 32 National Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations (ACO),” said DMC President Joe Mullany.
“The whole purpose of this emerging concept in health care is to treat patients at the highest standard of care the first time, so they are not repeatedly returning to the hospital.
It takes standards like those measured by Leapfrog to create that kind of patient safety and wellness. We are proud to have hospitals rank nationally for these high standards of care.”
DMC Harper-Hutzel Hospital President Thomas Malone, M.D., is encouraged by this Leapfrog designation. “We’ve felt for some time that our approach to quality of care for each patient at Harper and Hutzel was world class,” Malone said. “As an already established Center of Excellence, this added designation from the Leapfrog Group affirms that our multidisciplinary model of care continuously provides outstanding clinical outcomes. We are truly proud of this accomplishment.”
DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital president Reginald Eadie, M.D., responded similarly. “Everyone at Sinai-Grace strives daily to provide optimum service in their individual roles and responsibilities and as a team, to give our patients the best care possible. To be listed as a Leapfrog Top Hospital is an awesome recognition of the hard work and commitment our people give.”
At DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital, president Iris Taylor, Ph.D., spoke about the hospital’s critical role in the region. “Detroit Receiving is Michigan’s leader in emergency medicine, a Center of Excellence for disaster preparedness and a provider of expert care is several specialties. We have made it our responsibility to attain and surpass the highest standards in the care we give. To receive the 2012 Leapfrog Top Hospital ranking is further confirmation that we remain on track.”
“Our patients’ safety and the quality of care they receive has always been the DMC’s chief mission” said Suzanne White, M.D., M.B.A., and DMC Chief Medical Officer. “Every opportunity we have to apply new research and best practices, such as our Safety for Life protocol, helps us rise even higher and attracts recognition such as that awarded us today by the Leapfrog Group.”
Each performance area is measured by very specific variables designed to curb the number of medication errors that occur annually in the U.S.
The standard for preventing Medication Errors requires that physicians enter at least 75% of medication orders through a Computerized Physician Order Entry system (CPOE) and that the system can adequately alert physicians when common prescribing errors occur.
ICU Physician Staffing standards require that a hospital’s Intensive Care Units are managed or co-managed by board certified intensivists who are on-site, or within reach by telemedicine, or returned page within five minutes, and who can arrange that a certified physician or physician extender reach the ICU patient within five minutes.
A hospital must fully meet Leapfrog’s standards for volume, processes of care, and outcomes for high-risk surgeries and procedures (heart bypass, heart angioplasty, aortic valve replacement, abdominal aortic aneurism repair, bariatric surgery, esophogectomy, pancreatectomy, and high-risk newborn deliveries).
In addition, hospitals must achieve a value score of 69 or more, out of 100 possible. The value score is a combination rating of quality and use of resources.
Top Hospitals will be recognized at a reception and awards ceremony at the Leapfrog Annual meeting, Dec. 4th in Baltimore, M.D.
About Detroit Medical Center www.dmc.org
The Detroit Medical Center includes DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan, DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital, DMC Harper University Hospital, DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital, DMC Hutzel Women’s Hospital, DMC Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital, DMC Surgery Hospital, and DMC Cardiovascular Institute. The Detroit Medical Center is a leading regional healthcare system with a mission of excellence in clinical care, research and medical education.
The Leapfrog website provides specific details about these performance measures and the scoring (www.leapfroggroup.org).
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