VM achieves highest overall score on Leapfrog hospital safety survey

Virginia Mason receives highest overall score in Northwest in hospital safety survey

Virginia Mason has received the highest overall score among Northwest hospitals participating in survey of hospital safety practices.

The survey is sponsored by the Leapfrog Group, a consortium of Fortune 500 companies and other private and public healthcare purchasers founded in 2001 to promote improvements in hospital safety practices and reduce medical errors.

The initiative was inspired in part by a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine that estimated that up to 98,000 Americans die every year from preventable medical errors in hospitals.

The group identifies practices, such as using computer to process doctors’ orders, that have been shown to reduced medical errors.

Participating hospitals voluntarily report their progress towards implementing these practices.

Hospitals are rated on the progress they’ve made towards meeting the Leapfrog standards, and are graded on four levels of achievement: 1) Willing to Report their progress, 2) Some Progress, 3) Substantial Progress, and (4) Fully Meets Standards.

Participating Seattle hospitals include: Harborview Medical Center, Highline Medical Center, Northwest Hospitals & Medical Center, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Swedish Medical Center–Ballard, Swedish Medical Center–Cherry Hill, Swedish Medical Center–First Hill, University of Washington Medical Center, and Virginia Mason.

Hospitals in Bellevue, Everett and Tacoma also participate in the Leapfrog initiative. The results of all the survey are available online at the Leapfrog website.

To learn more:

• Compare the survey results for the participating hospitals at the Leapfrog Group’s website where you can search the survey results by city and state.
• Visit the Leapfrog Group’s home page for additional information about the initiative.
• Visit the Institute of Medicine’s website where you can read the 1999 report “To Err is Human“.

Tags: Doctors, Hospitals, Leapfrog, Medical Errors, Safety, Seattle

Category: Doctors, News, Provider News, Virginia Mason