Our medical director for quality and patient safety, Mary Gregg, MD, MHA, blogs about Swedish's Leapfrog Award:
Of all the awards Swedish has won over the years, the most meaningful is the Top Hospital Award given by the Washington, D.C.-based Leapfrog Group. I am very proud to announce that Swedish has earned the award once again this year: The Leapfrog Group today named Swedish First Hill among the nation’s 2011 Top Hospitals.
The reason this award is such an honor for us is that our physicians, nurses and other staff have been working tirelessly for years to develop a culture of safety and quality on behalf of our patients. This award validates their efforts because it is based on performance on key quality and safety metrics. Of 1,200 hospitals nationally, Swedish is one of only 65 in the country that are meeting these standards.
I want to use this opportunity to acknowledge our staff for their commitment to quality and safety and to thank them for everything they do for our patients on a daily basis. I also want to acknowledge our hospital in Ballard. Although that campus is not eligible for a Leapfrog designation because it doesn’t provide intensive care services, Swedish Ballard also scored in the top 10 percent of all Leapfrog hospitals for the second year in a row.
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 annual survey is the only voluntary effort of its kind. To learn more, read our news release or visit www.leapfroggroup.org.
