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Children's National Named a 2012 Leapfrog Group Top Hospital

Washington, DC – Children’s National Medical Center is one of only 12 children’s hospitals in the country named to the Leapfrog Group’s 2012 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 sixth consecutive year that Children’s National has been acknowledged as a leader among children’s hospitals.

“This distinction highlights our ongoing commitment to objective and tangible quality and safety measures,” said Kurt D. Newman, MD, President and CEO, Children’s National. “We are again proud to be recognized by national health care leaders who spotlight providers advancing quality care. Recognition as a 2012 Leapfrog Group Top Hospital is another example of Children’s National’s commitment to never forget who we are caring for.”

The criteria the Leapfrog Group uses to select top performing children’s hospitals are proven to reduce errors and enhance quality. They include:

  • Computerized ordering of medicines, tests, and procedures 
  • Staffing with appropriately trained professionals in intensive care units 
  • Implementing systems – including training all staff – to prevent, detect, and manage serious errors 
  • Preventing infections through ongoing process improvement

“The Leapfrog Top Hospital distinction is by far the most competitive award a hospital can receive,” said Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group.  “Leapfrog holds hospitals to the highest standards on behalf of our purchaser members and their employees.  By achieving the Top Hospital accolade, Children’s National Medical Center has demonstrated exemplary performance across all areas of quality and patient safety that are analyzed on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey. This hospital stands out as one consistently providing safe, high quality care, and I would be comfortable sending my family to Children’s National for care.” 

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

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Contact: Paula Darte or Emily Hartman, 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.