Allegheny Health Network hospitals receive “A” grades in national patient safety report
PITTSBURGH (PRWEB) May 02, 2020 -- Five Allegheny Health Network (AHN) hospitals have been awarded A grades in The Leapfrog Group’s spring 2020 survey, a national report that recognizes hospitals for the quality and safety of the care they provide to patients.
“As the nation copes with a challenging pandemic, our gratitude extends to hospital leadership and health care workers everywhere for their tremendous dedication,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. AHN’s caregivers and volunteers, Binder said, are “role models in putting patients first, and their service has been extraordinary in our country’s time of need.”
The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization committed to improving health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers. The twice-annual “Safety Grade” report assigns an A, B, C, D, or F grade to hospitals across the country, based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections, and other harm to patients in their care.
In the spring 2020 Leapfrog report, West Penn Hospital, Jefferson Hospital, Forbes Hospital, Allegheny Valley Hospital, and Grove City Hospital all received A grades. Allegheny General Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital, and Canonsburg Hospital each received Bs.
“At AHN, providing the safest possible care for patients is our highest priority and we have invested significant time and resources over the past three years to establish consistent best practices across all of our facilities to achieve that,” said Brian Parker, MD, AHN’s Chief Quality Officer. “Our hospitals have made great strides in all areas related to clinical quality and safety outcomes, and these grades are a testament to the exceptional caregivers and staff at every level who have contributed to our success.”
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals, twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed, and the results are free to the public.
To supplement the publicly available data, The Leapfrog Group also invites hospitals to participate in a voluntary survey. AHN participated in the voluntary survey for the first time in 2019.
Since 2015, hospital-associated infections at AHN have declined by almost half, which results in safer care and better outcomes, while also saving patients, employers, and other payors millions of dollars in associated care costs. Overall patient complications, hospital-acquired pressure injuries, and patient falls at AHN have also declined.
“Our outstanding caregivers are committed to creating safe healing environments for patients and their families,” said AHN President and CEO Cynthia Hundorfean. “They are the heart and soul of our organization and we are so proud of the work they do every day to assure that our patients receive the high quality, compassionate care they deserve. And there is no better example of that extraordinary and inspiring commitment than what we have witnessed these past few months.”
To view the complete list of Pennsylvania hospital Leapfrog grades, visit http://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.
Dan Laurent, Allegheny Health Network, http://ahn.org, 412-807-8103, [email protected]
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