VUH once again leaps onto list of top U.S. hospitals
Vanderbilt University Hospital has been named among the nation's 65 Leapfrog Top Hospitals for 2010. VUH is the only Tennessee hospital that made the list.
The Leapfrog Group is a coalition of public and private purchasers of employee health coverage founded a decade ago to work for improvements in health care safety, quality and affordability.
Leapfrog members together provide health benefits to more than 37 million Americans spread among all 50 states.
Their Top Hospitals list is based on an annual hospital safety and quality survey, which this year took in some 1,200 of the nation's approximately 5,800 registered hospitals.
Leapfrog has published these unranked lists since 2006 and this is the fourth time VUH has been included.
“This recognition from Leapfrog once again goes to our clinicians and staff for their diligence and commitment,” said C. Wright Pinson, M.D., MBA, deputy vice chancellor for Health Affairs and senior associate dean for Clinical Affairs.
“Recognition of this sort can help provide added encouragement for our ongoing investment in systematic patient safety and clinical quality improvement.”
VUH and the other urban generalist/adult hospitals on the 2010 list:
• meet Leapfrog standards for implementing computer physician order entry (CPOE) systems that help prevent medication errors (prevention capabilities of these systems have been tested using Leapfrog's CPOE evaluation tool);
• meet stringent performance standards for at least half of the complex, high-risk procedures (such as heart bypass surgery) done in that particular hospital;
• meet intensive care unit staffing standards that ensure ICU patients are cared for by specially trained doctors; and
• score a 69 or better in efficiency according to a cost-to-quality scale devised by Leapfrog.
Larry Goldberg, CEO of VUH, said, “We should all be very pleased indeed. This recognition goes to each staff member and each clinician for all they do to ensure the safety of our patients and the quality of our clinical care at VUH.”