Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (RWJ Hamilton) was recognized with an “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits. The A score was awarded in the latest update to the Hospital Safety ScoreSM, the A, B, C, D or F scores assigned to U.S. hospitals based on preventable medical errors, injuries accidents, and infections. The Hospital Safety Score was compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety. The first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the Journal of Patient Safety (April 2013), Hospital Safety Score is designed to give the public information they can use to protect themselves and their families.
“RWJ Hamilton’s physicians, nurses, and staff are committed to providing the communities we serve with safe, high quality, patient care,” says Skip Cimino, president & CEO of RWJ Hamilton. “Whether it’s a hospital-wide initiative to curb falls through patient education or following best practices and protocols for stroke care, safety and quality have always been top priorities for RWJ Hamilton.”
“Earning an ‘A’ on the Hospital Safety Score demonstrates that this hospital has exhibited excellence in our national database of patient safety measures,” said Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “I’d like to congratulate RWJ Hamilton for their achievements and encourage them to continue to put a priority on the safety of their patients.”
To see RWJ Hamilton’s scores as they compare nationally and locally, visit the Hospital Safety Score website at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org, which provides information on how the public can protect themselves and loved ones during a hospital stay. Local hospitals’ scores are also available on the free mobile app, available at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org.
Calculated under the guidance of the Leapfrog Group’s eight-member Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 26 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from infections, injuries, and medical and medication errors. The panel includes: John Birkmeyer (University of Michigan), Ashish Jha (Harvard University), Arnold Millstein (Stanford University), Peter Pronovost (Johns Hopkins University), Patrick Romano (University of California, Davis), Sara Singer (Harvard University), Tim Vogus (Vanderbilt University), and Robert Wachter (University of California, San Francisco).
