Stanford Hospital again earns top national designation

For the fourth year in a row, the Leapfrog Group has recognized Stanford Hospital & Clinics as one of the best hospitals in the nation.

Leapfrog announced Dec. 4 that 92 hospitals from a field of nearly 1,200 received its "top hospital" designation for 2012. The nonprofit organization, which measures hospital performance and advocates for hospital transparency, first began publishing an annual list of top U.S. hospitals in 2006. Since then, Stanford Hospital has earned a spot on the list five times.

Selection is based on results of Leapfrog's national survey, which measures hospital performance in areas of patient safety, quality of care and efficiency.

"What this recognition shows is our commitment to providing the very highest standards of care to every one of our patients," said Amir Dan Rubin, president and CEO of Stanford Hospital. "We feel honored to be among the hospitals Leapfrog has distinguished for their superior quality and safety."

The Leapfrog survey focuses on computer physician order entry; evidence-based hospital referral, a quality metric based largely on volumes and outcomes of certain high-risk elective procedures; intensive care unit staffing by physicians experienced in critical care medicine; and an assessment of 17 safe practices aimed at goals such as preventing illness and infections, creating and sustaining a culture of safety, matching care needs to service capability and improving medication management.

Hospitals that participate in the survey account for nearly 50 percent of all U.S. hospital beds, according to Leapfrog.

Additionally, Stanford Hospital & Clinics retained its "A" for patient safety. An "A" is the highest grade awarded by Leapfrog's Hospital Safety Score program, which evaluates overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors. Stanford was among only a handful of hospitals on the Peninsula and in the South Bay to earn the top score.

Grades are based on analyses of publicly available data using 26 evidence-based measures of hospital safety, such as hand-washing, computerized medication control and nurse staffing levels, according to the Leapfrog Group, which is run by employers and other large buyers of health benefits.