As a 2012 Top Hospital, Boston Medical Center met the following standards for safe, high quality care:
TOP URBAN HOSPITAL
I. A hospital must fully meet Leapfrog's standard for Preventing Medication Errors (CPOE)
Research estimates that more than one million serious medication errors occur each year in U.S. hospitals, with 7,000 deaths annually from adverse drug events (ADEs). In addition to the human price paid, each ADE adds $2,000 on average to the cost of a hospitalization. This translates to more than $7.5 billion per year nationwide in hospital costs alone. CPOE systems can reduce the number of ADEs by up to 88%, preventing three million serious medication errors in the U.S. each year.
Leapfrog's standard for Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) measures the extent to which a hospital has adopted CPOE, and whether decision-support tools in the CPOE system are working effectively. To fully meet this standard, physicians must enter at least 75% of medication orders through a CPOE system; and demonstrate, via a test, that their inpatient CPOE system can alert physicians to at least 50% of common, serious prescribing errors.
II. A hospital must fully meet Leapfrog's standard for ICU Physician Staffing (IPS)
Mortality rates are significantly lower in hospitals with ICUs managed exclusively by board-certified intensivists (physicians trained in critical care medicine). Research has shown that in ICUs where intensivists manage or co-manage all patients, there is a 30% reduction in overall hospital mortality and a 40% reduction in ICU mortality.
Hospitals fulfilling Leapfrog's standard for ICU Physician Staffing must ope
'/>"/>
| Contact: Gina DiGravio gina.digravio@bmc.org 617-630-8480 Boston University Medical Center Source:Eurekalert |