The Leapfrog Group has named 59 hospitals to its first Top Hospitals list based on its quality and safety survey of 1,263 hospitals. On two patient safety fronts, hospitals have made significant progress, according to the survey; 90% have implemented procedures to avoid wrong-site surgeries, and 80% require a pharmacist to review all medication orders before medication is given to patients. But Leapfrog singles out several areas where hospitals fall far short of the group’s standards: 90% have not implemented computer physician order entry; at least 90% fail to meet standards in performing coronary artery bypass graft surgery and abdominal aortic aneurysm repair; 70% don’t enlist intensivists in the intensive care unit according to Leapfrog’s standards; and 50% don’t have explicit protocols to ensure adequate nursing staff.
Leapfrog cites studies that indicate that if all nonrural hospitals in the United States implemented CPOE, ICU physician staffing, and evidence-based hospital referral, more than 65,000 lives per year could be saved and more than 907,000 serious medication errors prevented, saving the healthcare system approximately $41.5 billion annually. Read the news release.
