University Health achieves “A” rating from The Leapfrog Group
University Health’s two hospitals and multiple outpatient clinics have earned an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit watchdog that sets standards for excellence in patient care.
“This continued recognition of our healthcare team’s dedication to maintaining our exceptional performance is a demonstration of our commitment to high-quality, compassionate care,” said Dr. Bryan Alsip, University Health’s chief medical officer.
Achieving and maintaining an “A” grade requires persistent focus and teamwork throughout the organization, Alsip said. Reducing infections and ensuring patient safety requires that physicians, nurses, and other staff members work together to make sure processes are followed, examined and, when possible, improved. We always seek to improve our efforts as a pledge to our patients.
A process may be something as simple – but critical and evidence-based – as reinforcing handwashing and hand sanitizing routines when entering and leaving patient rooms. Unwavering attention to a multitude of even simple details, consistently, every day for every patient, becomes a complex operation that calls for full participation by every staff member.
Along with strong scores in preventing health care-associated infections, patient rights and ethics, and medication safety, University Health made the highest possible scores across the board in maternity care.
“The commitment we made to providing the highest level of care for complex and high-risk pregnancy is what first earned us the Level IV designation for both NICU and maternal care – the high designation in the state,” said Dr. Patrick Ramsey, medical director for inpatient OB services at University Health Women’s & Children’s Hospital.
“Now our exemplary care is being reflected in these important Leapfrog rankings, which we’ve continued to uphold as we opened the University Health Women’s & Children’s Hospital,” said Dr. Ramsey, who is also chief of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at UT Health San Antonio.
Areas of achievement in the maternity care category include successful high-risk deliveries, a low percentage of Cesarean sections, and providing midwife, doula and lactation services.
University Health’s excellence across services extends to the important area of price transparency. In April, The Leapfrog Group, the Health Transformation Alliance and Turquoise Health joined to honor University Health and 471 other hospitals across 42 states for their safety and price transparency. Each of the organizations received a Leapfrog "A" safety rating and the highest price transparency score from Turquoise Health.
"We encourage all hospitals to look to these industry leaders in both patient safety and price transparency as a model for how to provide patient-centered, high-quality care," Robert Andrews, CEO of Health Transformation Alliance, said in a news release. "In following their example and commitment to safety and price transparency, we believe the health care industry can collectively strive towards better health outcomes for all."
About University Health
University Health is the only locally owned health system in San Antonio. For more than 100 years, University Health has been here to heal, to improve health, to train the next generation of medical professionals and to ensure the people of San Antonio, Bexar County and South Texas have access to primary and advanced specialty care close to home. Specialized services include the region’s only Level I trauma center for both adults and children, and maternal and neonatal intensive care centers designated at the highest levels by the State of Texas. As the region’s only academic health system, University Health is a hub of innovation and discovery, committed to delivering patient-centered, culturally competent, high quality and compassionate care, based on a strong foundation of outcomes‐based research and innovative teaching. Learn more at universityhealth.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
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 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.
