The University of Arizona Medical Center received a “C” rating by The Leapfrog Group and has since taken measures to improve its performance for the community.
The Leapfrog Group is a national independent nonprofit organization which compares hospitals’ quality, safety and efficiency standards, according to the Leapfrog website.
A biannual report is provided to those who purchase a membership and are able to provide input about any hospital that forms a part of the survey. The grades are based on measures of safety, quality and resource usage that are of interest to healthcare purchasers and consumers.
As a nationally recognized and standardized survey, The Leapfrog Group attempts to capture any medical errors performed at hospitals, such as UAMC, to reduce any issues that reflect negatively toward the hospital in the future.
Although the Leapfrog survey might be conducted by a third-party observer, the hospital makes a note that there are other sources to refer to when it comes to the business’ performance.
“We don’t participate [with the Leapfrog survey so] we actually don’t look at that rating,” said Dr. Andreas Theodorou, chief of staff at UAMC. “We don’t fill out a questionnaire [through them].”
UAMC prefers to consult the University HealthSystem Consortium, since it compares it across academic medical centers, which are very different from regular hospitals, according to Brett Behan, co-director of quality for UAMC.
According to the UHC website, the organization also focuses on the same goal as Leapfrog: maintaining transparency with patients.
By providing data and relevant safety information, UHC provides insight on latest advances in healthcare that enables hospitals to improve their performance in the long run.
“We do multiple ongoing quality improvement projects based on the outcomes we measure as an institution,” Behan said. “The highlight we are really looking at to focus on right now based on our data is catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line infections. We know all of those can significantly tribute to mortality and really affect outcomes of patients. We have an opportunity to really improve with patients and we can control these types of things.”
Kara Snyder, co-director of quality for UAMC, also said UAMC attempts to achieve the adequate level of care for every patient who visits the hospital.
“We also focus on efficiency measures that The Leapfrog is also interested in making sure we are fiscally responsible as a country,” Snyder said. “We talk about how we move patients in a safe way through our system as expeditiously as possible and getting to the right level of care about they leave the hospital.”
_______________
Follow Crystal Bedoya on Twitter.
