Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Named One of the Nation’s Best Hospitals by The Leapfrog Group

Thursday, September 25, 2008

(New Brunswick, NJ) - The Leapfrog Group has named Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) one of America’s Top Hospitals for 2008 based on results of its recent Leapfrog Hospital Survey. The survey is the nation’s premier hospital patient safety evaluation tool and provides consumers and health care purchasers with up-to-date assessments of 1,220 participating hospitals’ quality and safety. The survey has earned a reputation for providing the most complete picture of hospital quality and safety in the United States. RWJUH is one of only 33 hospitals nationwide and one of only two in New Jersey to achieve this designation. Results of the survey can be viewed at www.leapfroggroup.org.

“Earning this award is clear evidence that RWJUH has established itself as a national leader in health care quality and safety,” said Stephen K. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. “This recognition is testament to the commitment to excellence and quality in patient care on behalf of our entire team of dedicated faculty and community physicians, nurses and employees as well as all of the partners on our academic health campus. The Leapfrog criteria have become more stringent in recent years, so we are extremely pleased that our academic medical center was able to gain this prestigious status.”

According to the Leapfrog Group, the voluntary survey asks hospitals about their performance in four crucial areas, or “leaps”:

Do physicians enter prescriptions and other orders into computers linked to medication error prevention software? And are those systems tested to assure that users are warned about serious prescription errors?
How well do hospitals perform seven complex high-risk procedures and care for high-risk deliveries?
Are hospital intensive care units staffed by qualified specialists?
Do hospitals have safety practices and policies advocated by the National Quality Forum to reduce harm and errors?

Hospitals earning the Leapfrog Award in 2008 met the following criteria:

Fully meet Leapfrog Standards for not only implementing computer physician order entry (CPOE) systems that help prevent medication errors, but have also carefully tested their CPOE systems with Leapfrog’s CPOE Evaluation tool.
Fully meet stringent performance standards for at least one of the complex, high-risk procedures (such as heart bypass surgery) done in that particular hospital.
Fully meet the ICU staffing standard.
Fully meet or demonstrate “substantial progress” on 13 additional nationally recognized safe practices, such as preventing pneumonia or bloodstream infections.

To locate a physician affiliated with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, please call 1-888-MD-RWJUH or visit www.rwjuh.edu.

About the Leapfrog Group

The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) uses its members’ collective leverage to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability for all Americans. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 by the Business Roundtable and is supported by its members, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and other sources.

About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Selected as one of four hospitals nationwide to offer the world's first self-contained implantable artificial heart, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.rwjuh.edu) is a 600-bed academic medical center and the principal hospital of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ. Robert Wood Johnson is an innovative leader in advancing state-of-the-art care in medicine. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, and women's and children's care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.bmsch.org). The hospital is also a Level 1 Trauma Center and serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.

The hospital has earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is ranked among the top 50 hospitals in the nation for both heart and heart surgery and respiratory disorders, according to U.S.News & World Report's 2008 ranking of "America's Best Hospitals." The American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer has rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital among the nation's best comprehensive cancer centers. The Leapfrog Group rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the 50 exceptional U.S. hospitals, as published in Consumers Digest magazine. Harvard University researchers, in a study commissioned by The Commonwealth Fund, identified Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation for clinical quality. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is also a recipient of the prestigious Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence for more than 10 consecutive years.

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