Children's National Named a 2011 Leapfrog Group Top Hospital

Washington, DC - Children’s National Medical Center is one of only ten children’s hospitals in the country – and the only children’s hospital in the mid-Atlantic region – named to the Leapfrog Group’s 2011 Top Hospitals List. The list of hospitals is based on results from the Leapfrog Hospital annual survey, which focuses on objective measures and processes in patient safety and quality. This is the fifth consecutive year that Children’s National has been acknowledged as a leader among children’s hospitals.

“Being named a Top Hospital by the prestigious Leapfrog Group highlights our commitment to objective and tangible measures of performance,” said Kurt D. Newman, MD, President and CEO, Children’s National. “We are proud to receive this acknowledgement from some of our nation's healthcare thought-leaders, who have consistently recognized the accomplishments of our clinical and support teams for delivering high-quality care in a safe environment. These are the quality measures that families should be aware of when choosing a hospital for their child’s care. Recognition as a 2011 Leapfrog Group Top Hospital is another example of Children’s National’s commitment to never forget who we are caring for and re-imaging how we care for kids.”

Among the criteria that the Leapfrog Group uses to select top performing hospitals are processes proven to reduce errors and enhance quality, including:

• Computerized ordering of medicines, tests, and procedures
• Staffing with appropriately trained professionals in intensive care units
• Comprehensive systems, including training all staff, to prevent, detect, and manage serious errors
• Focused efforts on preventing infections

“The Leapfrog Group is proud to be one of the only national sources of information that families can turn to when they are faced with the tough decision of which hospital is best for their child,” said Leah Binder, MA, MGA, CEO, the Leapfrog Group. “Leapfrog’s safety and quality measures allow families to compare hospitals on things like preventing infections and putting practices in place that are known to reduce medical errors. Today, we are honored to recognize Children’s National Medical Center for the fifth time since 2006 as a Leapfrog Top Hospital. Children’s National has out-performed other hospitals across the country and we congratulate them on their continued excellence and commitment to transparency.”

The complete list of top hospitals, the survey methodology, and more detail about criteria can be found at http://www.leapfroggroup.org.

Contact: Paula Darte, Public Relations: 202-476-4500.

About the Leapfrog Group
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.  The Leapfrog Hospital Survey is the only voluntary effort of its kind. The survey, which launched in 2001, focuses on four critical areas of patient safety: the use of computer physician order entry (CPOE) to prevent medication errors; standards for doing high-risk procedures such as heart surgery; protocols and policies to reduce medical errors and other safe practices recommended by the National Quality Forum; and adequate nurse and physician staffing. In addition, hospitals are measured on their progress in preventing infections and other hospital-acquired conditions and adopting policies on the handling of serious medical errors, among other things. View and compare hospital survey results at www.leapfroggroup.org/cp.