Harvard Study in Joint Commission Journal: Mortality Rates Lower in Leapfrog...( WASHINGTON June 16 -- A study pu...),Health

WASHINGTON, June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A study published this month finds that hospitals that perform well on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey have lower mortality and better quality of care than those who either didn't perform as well on the survey or who chose not to complete the survey. The study was published in the June 2008 issue of the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.

"This study is cause for celebration. Leapfrog works. Organizations and individuals who pay for health care know that hospitals that participate in the Leapfrog Hospital Survey are the ones who also deliver better results. This makes it clear that before you choose a hospital, you need to check out their Leapfrog rating," stated Jill Berger, Chair of The Leapfrog Group and Vice President, Health & Welfare for Marriott International, Inc.

Each year, The Leapfrog Group, which represents some of the country's largest employers and over 32 million people, asks over 2,000 hospitals to participate in the Leapfrog Hospital Survey. Leapfrog rates over 1,300 hospitals that together serve over half the US population. The results of individual hospitals on an array of quality, safety and efficiency measures endorsed by the National Quality Forum are available for free to the public at http://www.leapfroggroup.org.

"Does the Leapfrog Program Help Identify High-Quality Hospitals?" was authored by Dr. Ashish K. Jha and his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health. The study concluded that "Consumers who choose hospitals identified by Leapfrog as having begun to implement patient safety practices will likely find hospitals with better process [of care] quality and lower mortality rates."

"This study affirms Leapfrog, but more importantly it affirms the many hospitals that voluntarily participate in the Leapfrog survey and have made impressive strides in improving patient safety," said
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