Brigham and Women's Hospital Makes Leapfrog Top Hospitals List

Boston, Massachusetts (PressExposure) January 13, 2010 -- Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) was named a 2009 Leapfrog Top Hospital. BWH is one of 45 hospitals recognized for delivering the highest quality of care in the nation while attaining the highest levels of efficiency. The Leapfrog Group devises this prestigious list from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the only national public comparison of hospitals on key issues including mortality rates for certain common procedures, infection rates, safety practices and measures of efficiency.

"This is recognition of BWH's commitment to high quality care and our performance in delivering that care safely and efficiently," said Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA, senior vice president for Clinical Excellence at BWH.

Each year Leapfrog appoints hospitals to one of three lists, including top urban hospitals, top pediatric hospitals, and the new top rural hospitals list. BWH made the urban hospitals list by fulfilling the following criteria:

• Fully meet Leapfrog standards for implementing computer physician order entry (CPOE) systems (that have been shown to reduce medication errors by up to 85 percent) and for passing Leapfrog's test of their system; • Fully meet stringent performance standards for complex, high-risk procedures such as heart bypass surgery; • Fully meet standards for staffing the ICU, shown to reduce mortality by 40 percent or more; • Score in the top 10 percent in the country for efficiency - scored by the Leapfrog Hospital Recognition Program incorporating quality outcomes, length of stay, readmission rates and incidence of hospital acquired conditions and infections. The efficiency standard applies to heart bypass surgery, heart angioplasty, heart attack and pneumonia patients.

"This year's class of Top Hospitals not only hits the mark in areas such as medication error prevention and preventing ICU deaths, but they also use their resources wisely, providing excellent and efficient outcomes for patients," said Leah Binder, CEO, The Leapfrog Group. "Regardless of what happens to healthcare reform, these hospitals are the future."

About Brigham and Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 777-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. In July of 2008, the hospital opened the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, the most advanced center of its kind. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 860 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $416 M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Brigham and Women's Hospital
75 Francis Street
Boston, MA 02115 USA
http://www.brighamandwomens.org/

Press Release Source: http://PressExposure.com/PR/Brigham_and_Women's_Hospital_.html

Press Release Submitted On: January 12, 2010 at 11:30 pm
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