Dive Brief:

• The Leapfrog Group and Money, a digital financial publication, gave 148 general hospitals, children’s hospitals, teaching hospitals and rural hospitals across the U.S. best hospital awards in a new list of hospital ratings out Wednesday.
• The ratings factor in hospital infection rates, high-risk surgeries performed, maternity care, critical care, pediatrics, medication management, nursing workforce and other criteria.
• California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania had the most hospitals receiving top awards. Florida led the list with 26 facilities designated.

Dive Insight:

The nonprofit Leapfrog Group regularly releases best hospital lists and other rankings, though this time it teamed up with Money in an effort to help consumers shop for hospitals that provide the highest quality care, according to a release from both groups.

To qualify as a best hospital, facilities had to earn an A letter grade in Leapfrog’s fall 2021 hospital safety grades.

Leapfrog then assessed how selected hospitals performed in a number of categories, first looking at medication ordering practices used to prevent prescription errors and staffing levels in intensive care units. They also looked at instances in which “never events” occurred, or medical errors so serious that they should never happen to patients, like operating on the wrong body part.

Hospital performances on high-risk surgeries, including heart surgeries, bariatric surgery, hip replacements and lung cancer surgeries, were also taken into account.

Some metrics weren’t factored in for pediatric hospitals, though other criteria like safety and management policies related to preserving radiation exposure at safe levels for children during CT scans were included in the hospital assessments.

A complete list of the 148 facilities that won best hospital awards can be found here.