HMSL once again earned an “A” for patient safety in the Spring 2016 Hospital Safety Score ratings program. The Hospital Safety Score is an elite designation from The Leapfrog Group that sets the highest standards for patient safety in the United States. They assign letter grades to hospitals based on how well they protect patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections while in the hospital.
Developed under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses performance measures from a broad range of government and industry organizations including the American Hospital Association, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others.
More than 2,500 U.S. hospitals are rated twice each year on 30 measures of publicly available safety data. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer-reviewed, fully transparent and, for the first time, includes five measures of patient-reported experience with the hospital, as well as two of the most common infections, Clostridium difficile (C. diff) and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
HMSL was one of 798 hospitals nationwide — less than one-third of those surveyed — to earn an “A” grade in survey results released this past April.
“Avoidable deaths in hospitals should be the number one concern of our health care leaders. Hospitals that earn an ‘A’ from Leapfrog are leaders in saving lives, and we commend them and urge their continued vigilance,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group.
HMSL’s ongoing patient safety efforts include the development of detailed protocols and best practices focusing on a wide-range of safety risks, along with in-depth training, ongoing communication and regularly scheduled audits to ensure that staff members are aware of — and are following — proper safety processes.
“Patient safety is central to our mission, and we are proud of our results,” said Chris Siebenaler, CEO. “Our success depends on the daily actions of our physicians, nurses, technicians and other staff members, and our ‘A’ grade from the Hospital Safety Score survey shows that we are making a very real difference in keeping our patients safe while under our care.”