WILMINGTON – New Hanover Regional Medical Center has been honored with an ‘A’ grade in the spring 2014 update to the Hospital Safety Score, which rates how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections.
The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered by The Leapfrog Group, an independent industry watchdog. The Leapfrog Score, the first and only hospital safety rating to be analyzed in the peer-reviewed
Journal of Patient Safety, is designed to give members of the public information they can use to protect themselves and their families.
“We take the safety of our patients very seriously,” said Jack Barto, President and Chief Executive Officer of New Hanover Regional Medical Center. “We have established a culture of continuous improvement at NHRMC, and although we are very proud to receive the highest grade from The Leapfrog Group, we will continue to look for new ways to provide the high quality care our patients expect and deserve.”
Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, said that hospital safety and transparency has become more of a central focus as patients become more engaged in selecting where to receive health care. “The ‘A’ hospitals, including New Hanover Regional Medical Center, are helping us to raise the standards of health care nationwide,” she said. “We offer our congratulations and hope the hospital will continue to strive for an ever-increasing level of excellence in patient safety.”
To see New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s scores as they compare nationally and locally, and to find safety tips for patients and their loved ones, visit the
Hospital Safety Score website.
Calculated under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a letter grade representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 general U.S. hospitals were assigned scores this spring. A full analysis of the data and methodology used is available on the Hospital Safety Score website.
About The Leapfrog Group:
The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers of healthcare services to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.
About New Hanover Regional Medical Center:
With a dedicated team of more than 6,000 employees, 550 physicians and 800 volunteers, New Hanover Regional Medical Center is one of the largest county-owned public hospitals in the United States. A multi-campus healthcare system, NHRMC includes the main 17th Street campus where the NHRMC Betty H. Cameron Women’s & Children’s Hospital, NHRMC Zimmer Cancer Center, NHRMC Heart Center, NHRMC Behavioral Health Hospital and NHRMC Rehabilitation Hospital are located. New Hanover Regional Medical Center also includes the NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital on Wrightsville Avenue and the management of Pender Memorial Hospital in Burgaw. The NHRMC Physician Group includes more than 150 providers in primary care and a wide range of specialty fields. With a team-based approach to health care, NHRMC offers a variety of healthcare services, technologies and treatments for patients of all ages. NHRMC provides more than $140 million in uncompensated care each year.
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