WakeMed Receives Straight A’s from The Leapfrog Group
November 16, 2022
RALEIGH, N.C. (November 16, 2022) – WakeMed Raleigh Campus, WakeMed Cary Hospital, and WakeMed North Hospital all received A ratings on the latest Hospital Safety Grades, released today by The Leapfrog Group. This marks the third time in a row that all three WakeMed hospitals received A grades. The accomplishment places the WakeMed health system in elite company: only 29% of hospitals nationwide received A’s in this round of scores.
The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization with a 10-year history of assigning letter grades to general hospitals throughout the United States, based on a hospital’s ability to prevent medical errors and harm to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent, and free to the public.
“These back-to-back-to-back ‘A’s are a reflection of the incredible multidisciplinary, systematic work happening across WakeMed to continually strengthen quality, safety, and service. Each and every member of the WakeMed team plays a role in this work and should be proud of this achievement,” commented Chris DeRienzo, MD, senior vice president and WakeMed’s Quality & Chief Medical Officer. “We are continuing this commitment through our Clinical Transformation efforts, which are already yielding better outcomes for patients through stronger and more coordinated team-based care.”
The fall 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades are based on than 30 national performance measures and are updated each fall and spring. As in past years, WakeMed exceled in the metrics related to processes, which indicates the health system’s strong culture of safety and procedures that engage staff and leaders. Additionally, all three of WakeMed’s hospitals scored above the Leapfrog mean (average) in nearly all the measures.
Other improvements in outcome measures noted for WakeMed included CAUTI, MRSA, C. difficile, and SSI Colon rates. To view hospital-specific performance on all measures, please refer to the following links:
The Leapfrog Group publishes Hospital Safety Grades twice a year based on information and performance measures reported from government agencies and other sources. Taken together, those measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.
About WakeMed Health & Hospitals
Serving the community since 1961, WakeMed is a not-for-profit health care system founded and based in Raleigh, N.C. WakeMed exists to improve the health and well-being of our community by providing outstanding and compassionate care to all. WakeMed’s 970-bed system comprises a network of facilities throughout the Triangle area, including three full-service hospitals, seven emergency departments, a dedicated Children’s Hospital and Rehabilitation Hospital, more than 80 physician offices and Wake County’s only Level I Trauma Center. WakeMed’s mission-driven team includes more than 10,300 employees, 1,000 volunteers and 1,300 affiliated physicians, along with the more than 700 physicians and providers with WakeMed Physician Practices – all representing the best minds and the biggest hearts and the finest quality in health care and community health. For more information, visit www.wakemed.org or follow WakeMed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps for patient safety. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. For more, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for our newsletter.
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Additional Information:
WakeMed Health & Hospitals
Kristin Kelly | Phone: 919-350-5921
Email: krkelly@wakemed.org