This lesson will identify different hospital metrics. Specifically, it will cover:
- Hospital Compare
- Leapfrog Group
- Reflect
1. Hospital Compare
Data collected and reported at the organizational level is often also shared at the local, state, and national levels. Hospital Compare is a website provided by Medicare.gov that allows healthcare professionals to compare hospitals based upon several criteria. The criteria include the following categories:
- General information
- Survey of patient experiences
- Timeliness and effectiveness of care
- Complications and death
- Unplanned hospital visits
- Psychiatric unit services
- Payment and value of care
Hospital metrics are compared to state and national rates for each criterion. If a hospital’s complication and death rates are higher than that of surrounding facilities and/or the state and national rates, a consumer may be less likely to want to be a patient at the hospital. This potentially could negatively impact the hospital’s financial standing and reputation. Nurses need to know how their organization “compares” in order to not only educate consumers but also to use the comparative data to drive necessary change.
2. Leapfrog Group
The Leapfrog Group is “a nonprofit watchdog organization that serves as a voice for healthcare purchasers, using their collective influence to foster positive change in U.S. healthcare. Leapfrog is the nation’s premier advocate of hospital transparency—collecting, analyzing, and disseminating hospital data to inform value-based purchasing" (2019).
The information presented by the Leapfrog Group includes data in the following categories:
- Inpatient care management
- Medication safety
- Infections
- High-risk surgery
- Cancer surgery
- Maternity care
- Pediatric care
Like Hospital Compare, the hospital’s performance in each of these areas is rated and published. In addition, the Leapfrog Group grades the hospital based upon its overall safety performance. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades range from A to D. Providing these grades has provided transparency and as a result, improved patient safety. Nurses can use the Leapfrog grade to create a sense of urgency for organizational change, especially if the grade is lower than desired. The Leapfrog Group also provides documents describing the actual grade measure. Such information can be used as the foundation for implementing data-driven, evidence-based practice supported interventions for practice or process changes.
3. Reflect
Visit Hospital Compare, review your organization’s performance data, and compare it with that of surrounding hospitals.
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- Are you surprised by the results?
- What can you do to improve any of the findings?
Visit
LeapFrog and review your hospital’s Leapfrog Group Safety Grade.
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- How does your hospital rate?
- Does your hospital publicize its grade?
Authored by Anne E. Lara, Ed. D., MS, RN, CPHQ, CPHRM
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