Newly-Released Hospital Data Show Significant Variation in Healthcare Quality

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Results of 2010 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, Such as Rates of Early Elective Deliveries, Highlight Opportunities for Data-Driven, Value-Based Purchasing Initiatives

March 1, 2011 - Washington DC -Recently-released results of the 2010 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the hallmark public reporting initiative of The Leapfrog Group, show significant variation in hospital performance on the national standards of safety, quality, and efficiency that are most relevant to consumers and purchasers of care. More than 1,200 hospitals across the country participated in this year’s Survey, which assesses hospital performance on a broad spectrum of quality and safety measures that focus on: how patients fare, resources used to care for patients, and management practices that promote safety and quality.

The 2010 Survey results indicate steady improvement in some areas, such as the number of hospitals adopting never events policies and implementing computerized physician order entry to help prevent medication errors. However, there are alarming disparities between the highest and lowest performers on several key indicators. For example, hospitals that reported their rates of early elective deliveries, which include c-sections and inductions scheduled between the 27th and 39th completed week of pregnancy without a medical reason, reported rates less than 5% and more than 40%.

Early elective deliveries represent a significant cost in health care, with one study estimating that nearly $1 billion dollars could be saved annually in the U.S. if the rate of early elective deliveries were reduced to 1.7%. Leapfrog has posted early elective delivery rates of 773 hospitals on a new web pagewww.leapfroggroup.org/tooearlydeliveries.

Despite the importance of this issue to women and babies, Leapfrog is the first national organization to make this information public by hospital. The findings from 773 hospitals in Leapfrog’s 2010 annual hospital survey reveal significant variation among hospitals in their rates of early elective cesarean section and elective inductions, with some hospitals having ten times the rate of others.

“Hospitals, health plans, providers, and communities need to do more to protect women and babies from this harmful practice,” said Leapfrog CEO Leah Binder. She noted that currently only hospitals that report to Leapfrog’s annual hospital survey are making their rates of early elective deliveries public. “Every hospital should publicly report on their rate and actively prevent the practice, and every woman planning to give birth should demand the information,” Binder added.

Health care consumers can visit the Leapfrog website at leapfroggroup.org to view hospital-specific survey results and compare multiple hospitals in their area.Safety and quality datareported to Leapfrog are calculated and displayed without trying to minimize the differences between hospitals. “Transparency is the key to unlocking significant improvements in health care safety, quality and affordability,” said Binder. “As the most comprehensive and transparent source of comparative hospital performance information in the U.S., the Leapfrog Hospital Survey results benefit hospitals, consumers and purchasers of care alike.”

About The Leapfrog Group

The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) uses 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 Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 by the Business Roundtable and is now independently operated with support from its members.

The Leapfrog Hospital Survey is the gold standard for comparing hospitals’ performance on the national standards of safety, quality, and efficiency that are most relevant to consumers and purchasers of care. Hospitals that participate in The Leapfrog Hospital Survey achieve hospital-wide improvements that translate into millions of lives and dollars saved. Leapfrog’s purchaser members use survey results to inform their employees and purchasing strategies.

For information on strategies for using Leapfrog data, visitwww.leapfroghospitalsurvey.org/compare_hospitals

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