For the seventh time in a row, Emerson Hospital has been honored with an “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits. The results are available to the public and are designed to give consumers information they can use to protect themselves and their families when facing a hospital stay.
The Hospital Safety Score is calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel using publicly available data from more than 2,600 acute care hospitals nationwide on patient injuries, medical and medication errors, and infections. Hospitals were assigned an A, B, C, D, or F for their overall performance. Only 32% of all hospitals measured received an A grade. Emerson received particularly high marks in a variety of areas, including practices to prevent errors and patient communication with doctors and nurses.
“Emerson is known as a community hospital with an excellent safety record based on clinical excellence and a compassionate, care team approach to treating our patients,” said Christine Schuster, president and CEO of Emerson Hospital. “We continue to place a very high priority on patient safety. While we are honored to have received an A rating seven consecutive times, our work is not done. We continue to be proactive and innovative when it comes to providing our patients with the highest levels of care and safety.”
The latest Hospital Safety Score used 30 evidence-based measures of hospital safety data to produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe. That figure reflects two safety measures, with the overall number comprised of 15 measures related to process and structure, and 15 measures that are patient outcome-based.
Performance measures are collected from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In addition, secondary data is used from the American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey.
To view Emerson Hospital’s scores as they compare nationally and locally, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org.
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The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) is a national organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality, and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders, and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.
Emerson Hospital is a multi-site health system headquartered in Concord, Mass., with additional facilities in Sudbury, Groton and Westford. The 179-bed hospital provides advanced medical services to more than 300,000 individuals in 25 towns. To learn more, visit www.emersonhospital.org.
