Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1235187
41 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT Where are the 36 'straight-A' Leapfrog hospitals? By Mackenzie Bean T he Leapfrog Group has assigned letter grades to hospitals based on their pa- tient safety performance twice annually since spring 2012. irty-six hospitals have earned an "A" in every update, including the fall 2019 update released Nov. 7. e following 36 straight-A hospitals have maintained the highest possible grade 16 consecutive times: Arizona Mayo Clinic Hospital (Phoenix) California French Hospital Medical Center (San Luis Obispo) Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Orange County- Anaheim Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center (San Luis Obispo) Twin Cities Community Hospital (Templeton) Colorado Rose Medical Center (Denver) Florida AdventHealth Daytona Beach Memorial Hospital Miramar Georgia AdventHealth Gordon (Calhoun) Illinois Elmhurst Memorial Hospital Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (Winfield) OSF St. Joseph Medical Center (Bloomington) OSF St. Mary Medical Center (Galesburg) Rush Copley Medical Center (Aurora) University of Chicago Medical Center Massachusetts Beverly Hospital Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital (Boston) Saint Anne's Hospital (Fall River) Michigan Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital (Commerce Township) Michigan Medicine (Ann Arbor) Mississippi Baptist Memorial Hospital Golden Triangle (Columbus) North Carolina Rex Hospital (Raleigh) New Jersey Saint Barnabas Medical Center (Livingston) Ohio OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital (Delaware) University Hospitals St. John Medical Center (Westlake) Texas Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital St. David's Medical Center (Austin) Virginia Carilion New River Valley Medical Center (Christiansburg) Inova Loudoun Hospital (Leesburg) Sentara CarePlex Hospital (Hampton) Sentara Leigh Hospital (Norfolk) Sentara Obici Hospital (Suffolk) Sentara Princess Anne Hospital (Virginia Beach) Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center Washington Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle) n US physicians fall behind international peers in care coordination By Emily Rappleye A merican primary care providers are more siloed and less flexible than their counterparts abroad, according to a survey conducted by the Com- monwealth Fund. The Commonwealth Fund surveyed more than 13,000 primary care providers in 11 countries: Australia, Can- ada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. The results offered insight into primary care practice behav- ior in each country. Here are some takeaways on primary care physicians in the U.S., compared to their interna- tional peers: 1. American PCPs are less flexible in when and where they are available to patients. About half as many U.S. physicians make home visits than physicians in other countries (37 percent versus 70 percent), and they were also less likely to provide care after hours. 2. American PCPs coordinate less with specialists, emergency rooms and social services. About half of American PCPs (49 percent) receive information from specialists about care plan changes for patients, and about half are told when a patient goes to the ER. For physicians abroad, at least 70 percent in Norway, France and New Zealand coordinate with specialists, and more than 80 percent in Norway and New Zea- land hear when patients are admitted to the ER. The gap is similar for social services: About 40 percent of PCPs coordinate with community providers in the U.S., compared to 74 percent in Germany and 65 percent the U.K. 3. U.S. physicians did most frequently offer health IT tools for patient communication; however, they lagged in interoperable capabilities. n