The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Scores – How did your hospital do?
Before you visit your local hospital, you might want to check its Leapfrog Hospital Safety Score.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Score, created by a blue ribbon panel of nationally-recognized patient safety experts, is based on 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data. The panel gives hospitals a grade of A, B, C, D or F based on injuries, infections and errors.
The latest hospital safety score was released in October 2013.
Key Network Hospital Findings
The Alliance is a cooperative of 180 employers who self-fund their health benefits. As part of our mission as “employers moving health care forward,” members of The Alliance often encourage employees and family members to consider quality issues such as patient safety when selecting a health care provider.
Here are some highlights about how hospitals in The Alliance network fared when the latest scores were released in October 2013.
- Out of the 26 hospitals graded, 14 (54%) received an “A,” six (23%) received a “B,” five (19%) received a “C,” and one (3%) received a “D.” No hospitals received an “F.”
- Thirty-seven in-network hospitals do not appear on the list, which means not enough data is available to accurately calculate a score for these hospitals. In most cases, this is because small hospitals with designation as a “critical-access hospital” are not required to submit data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which is one of the sources of the data used in the Leapfrog scores.
- Both nationally and in The Alliance network, a notable number of hospitals improved their score by two grade levels. Five hospitals moved from a “C” ranking in spring 2013 to an “A” rating in the fall 2013 survey: Beaver Dam Community Hospital Inc., Beaver Dam, Wis.; FHN Memorial Hospital, Freeport, Ill.; Finley Hospital, Dubuque, Iowa; UW Hospital, Madison, Wis.; and UW Health Partners/Watertown Regional Medical Center, Watertown, Wis. In addition, Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, Ill., improved two levels from a “D” to a “B.” Nationally, 3.5 percent of hospitals improved by two or more grade levels.
- In the state of Wisconsin, this is the first year that more hospitals received “A” and “B” grades than any other grades. In addition, more hospitals improved than declined, meaning that the largest category within the study is hospitals with “no change” in their grade.
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Learn More About Hospital Safety Scores and Quality Care
- Executive Order on Improving Price and Quality Transparency
- Wisconsin Can Save $394 Million by Steering Patients to High-Value Health Care
- How You Can Steer To Better Value
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Allan Wearing
Guest Blogger, Chief Insurance Services Officer at Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin
Al was the Chief Insurance Services Officer at Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin (GHC-SCW). He has the primary responsibility for the oversight of the insurance programs at GHC-SCW including marketing, sales, product development, pricing, underwriting, provider contracting, communication, advertising, public relations, government programs, and customer service.He oversees, manages and provides direction in the development and execution of insurance programs and initiatives in conjunction with the GHC-SCW strategic plan and goals. Al has seen incremental growth in membership of GHC-SCW since joining the organization in 2006 from 53,000 members to now over 75,000 members in 2018. Al has been involved in the Wisconsin health insurance industry for over forty years and has seen significant changes in the industry over the years.He had a long and rewarding career at Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin (BCBSWI) which spanned the decades of the 1970’s through 2006. During that time, he worked principally in a variety of management positions ranging from internal operations to more externally focused areas in various sales, sales management, and executive positions at BCBSWi until his departure in 2006. His tenure at BCBSWI allowed him to develop over the years in a variety of positions which allowed him to understand the importance of the industry in providing exceptional service to all employers and their employees. A lesson that has he has continued to embrace at GHC-SCW. Education and Associations: Al graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Al is a fellow in the Life Management Institute. Al in the past has served on the boards of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Western Wisconsin and continues as an Ambassador, the Cooperative Network Board where he represented the health sector for cooperatives in Wisconsin and Minnesota, the Wisconsin Association of Health Underwriters (WAHU), including Past President, and the Madison West Kiwanis Club, including Past President. In addition, Al has previously been a member of the Fond du Lac Area Businesses on Health Board of Directors, as well as a member of the Fond du Lac Rotary Club. Al believes sincerely in the value of community involvement in civic, professional, and business associations and continues to look for opportunities to serve in the community.
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