Brigham and Women’s Hospital Makes Leapfrog Top Hospitals List

Boston, MA, January 22, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) was named a 2010 Leapfrog Top Hospital. BWH is one of 65 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, one of a few national public comparison of hospitals on key issues including mortality rates for certain common procedures, infection rates, safety practices and measures of efficiency.

"Earning a top hospital designation is a testament to the commitment of the entire BWH family to our mission of providing the best care possible to every patient - volunteers, staff, caregivers, physicians and senior administration contribute daily in creating an environment of quality of care and patient safety," said Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA, senior vice president of 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.

Leapfrog Board Chair David Knowlton, president of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, pointed out that qualifying for the top hospital rank grows more difficult each year as Leapfrog's standards evolve and new standards are added. "Leapfrog's members, as purchasers of care, and our partners and supporters believe that the challenges for American health care go far beyond just keeping costs down. Making certain that patients get the right care at the right time-value--is an equal part of the equation."

Learn more about BWH's commitment to Quality Care.(http://www.brighamandwomens.org/about_bwh/quality/)

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 http://www.brighamandwomens.org/.

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