by
Nick Przybyciel | Apr 29, 2014
Chicago (April 29, 2014) – Designed to rate how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections, the latest Hospital Safety Score honored Swedish Covenant Hospital with an“A” – its top grade in patient safety. 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 (Leapfrog), an independent industry watchdog.
This is the fifth-straight “A” rating earned by Swedish Covenant Hospital, which was also named Chicago’s only ‘Top Hospital’ in Leapfrog’s 2013 rankings.
“Our clinical staff is committed to providing the safest possible care and delivering excellent patient outcomes,” said Janis Rueping, Swedish Covenant Hospital vice president of quality improvement and risk management. “Earning our fifth consecutive Leapfrog ‘A’ for safety is testament to our hospital’s mission and our staff’s expertise.”
As one of the few independent, nonprofit hospitals in the north side, Swedish Covenant Hospital promotes healing and healthy living by providing expert care and unmatched patient services in state-of-the-art facilities. It is one of the only hospitals in Chicago to offer 3D mammography and the most sophisticated heart-imaging technology, in addition to a clinically integrated medical group that excels at coordinating patient care thanks to a robust electronic medical record platform.
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 single “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 U.S. general hospitals were assigned scores in spring 2014, with about 32-percent receiving an “A” grade. The Hospital Safety Score is fully transparent, and its website offers a full analysis of the data and methodology used in determining grades.
“Safety should come first for our families when we pick a hospital, because errors and infections are common and deadly,” said Leah Binder, president & CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which produces the Hospital Safety Score. “No hospital is perfect, but we congratulate the Board, clinicians, administration, and staff of Swedish Covenant Hospital for achieving an “A” and showing us that you made the well-being of you patients your top priority.”
To see how Swedish Covenant Hospital’s score compares locally and nationally, and to access safety tips for patients and their loved ones, visit the Hospital Safety Score website at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org. Consumers can also go to www.hospitalsafetyscore.org for a free download of the Hospital Safety Score app.
About Swedish Covenant Hospital
Swedish Covenant Hospital excels in safety, outcomes and the patient experience by providing expert care and unmatched health and wellness services in state-of-the-art facilities. The hospital has received an “A” hospital safety grade five consecutive times from The Leapfrog Group and is the only hospital to be named a 2013 Leapfrog “Top Hospital” for quality and safety. The city’s leading independent, nonprofit hospital focuses on the biological, psychological, social and spiritual elements of healing, resulting in compassionate, reliable patient care. Across all service lines, Swedish Covenant Hospital serves as a model for health care IT adoption and continually acquires advanced technologies.
About The Leapfrog Group
The Hospital Safety Score (
www.hospitalsafetyscore.org) is an initiative of The Leapfrog Group (
www.leapfroggroup.org), 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 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.
