Roswell Park Named to Leapfrog Group’s Annual Top Hospitals List

Only 5% of Eligible Hospitals Achieved this Prestigious National Designation for 2010

BUFFALO, NY — The Leapfrog Group’s annual class of Top Hospitals — 65 from a field of nearly 1,200 — was announced December 1 in Washington, D.C., and included Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY, for the first time. The announcement came at Leapfrog’s 10th anniversary meeting.

The Leapfrog Group is a coalition of public and private purchasers of employee health coverage founded a decade ago to work for improvements in healthcare safety, quality and affordability. Initially organized by the Business Roundtable, it is now an independent advocacy group working with a broad range of partners, including hospitals and insurers. The annual survey is the only voluntary effort of its kind. Leapfrog officials say they plan to expand their efforts in the months ahead to work with consumer groups.       

“We’re very pleased to be included in this outstanding company, especially as one of only two dedicated cancer centers on the Leapfrog Top Hospitals list for this year,” said Donald L. Trump, MD, FACP, President and CEO of Roswell Park. “No clinical model is more cost-effective than providing outstanding medical care through a multidisciplinary approach. We’re committed to measuring and monitoring every facet of our performance because it helps us to provide outstanding care for the families that turn to Roswell Park.”

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.

“Earning the Top Hospital designation is a testament to the work of everyone in the hospital — the governing body, management, physicians, caregivers, employees and volunteers,” said Leapfrog Chief Executive Leah Binder.

The 2010 list includes university and other teaching hospitals, children’s hospitals and community hospitals in rural, suburban and urban settings. The selection is based on the results of the Leapfrog Group’s national survey that measures hospitals’ performance in crucial areas of patient safety and quality. The results are posted on http://www.leapfroggroup.org, a website open to the patients and families, the public and employers and other purchasers of health care. It is the most complete picture available of a hospital’s quality and safety.

The 1,200 hospitals that publicly report their performance via the Leapfrog Survey do so voluntarily. “In a way, that makes all of them top hospitals,” noted Binder. “It represents an enormous commitment by the institution to not only measure what they do against tough standards, but also to work for change and be transparent about it.”

Leapfrog Board Chair David Knowlton, president of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, pointed out that qualifying for the top hospital rank grows more difficult each year as Leapfrog’s standards evolve and new standards are added. “Leapfrog’s members, as purchasers of care, and our partners and supporters believe that the challenges for American health care go far beyond just keeping costs down. Making certain that patients get the right care at the right time — value — is an equal part of the equation.”

The mission of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. Roswell Park, founded in 1898, was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit Roswell Park’s website at http://www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email AskRoswell@Roswellpark.org.