HaysMed Receives “A” Rating in Patient Safety from the Leapfrog Group
Hays, Kansas (Nov 26, 2018)— HaysMed, part of The University of Kansas Health System, was awarded an “A” rating in patient safety from the Leapfrog Group, a Washington D.C-based organization aiming to improve health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers. The “A” is for its efforts in protecting patients from harm and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S. The Safety Grade assigns an A, B, C, D or F grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms among patients in their care.
“Only about one-third of 2600 general acute-care hospitals nationwide get an “A” grade from the Leapfrog organization,” said Melanie Urban, Director of Patient Quality. “Our “A” rating is indicative of the strong culture and focus on patient safety by all of the employees who put patients first every day at HaysMed.” Grades are assigned twice a year by The Leapfrog Group.
According to Leapfrog this is the only national rating of how well hospitals protect patients from preventable harm and death, such as medical errors, infections, and injuries. Receiving an “A” Safety Grade means a hospital is among the best in the country for preventing these problems and putting their patients first, 24 hours a day.”
Developed under the guidance of an expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to approximately 2600 hospitals twice per year. It is peer reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. The 28 performance measures include handwashing practices, blood infections and patient falls. Leapfrog uses the measures to come up with a single letter grade ranging from A to F, meant to show how effective a hospital is in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.