Officials with University Medical Center of El Paso (UMC) announced Thursday that their facility is now among the safest hospitals in the nation, according to the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade system.
UMC had previously been awarded an “A” in Spring 2019, becoming the only public hospital in Texas to achieve an “A” rating.
“This award of an ‘A’ rating shows our patients that our standards of excellence in safety have been maintained and continue to improve by the day,” said Jacob Cintron, UMC President & CEO. “It is testament to the hard work and diligence of our nurses, techs and physicians throughout our hospital to ensure that patient safety and satisfaction are our priorities. I am again happy that Leapfrog has recognized our work toward improvement.”
Heading up UMC’s safety standards improvement while ensuring data was accurate and reflective of the care UMC provides was UMC’s Quality Management team.
“The Leapfrog Group is a nationwide organization that serves as a voice for health care safety,” said Roxanne Weisendanger, UMC’s Chief Nursing Officer. “Our Quality Management team, nurses and everyone throughout the healthcare delivery process continue to be focused on making everything we do as safe as possible for all patients. Every one of our providers, techs, assistants and other Associates can share in this success. Most of all, our patients can count on the safest of care at UMC.”
Hospitals receive a letter grade of A through F based on their overall safety performance every Spring and Fall.
UMC’s Spring 2020 Grade of an “A,” is derived from safety data compiled from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Leapfrog Hospital Survey.
“There are 28 national performance measures that are looked at through the system. This includes 13 Process/Structural Measures and 15 Patient Outcome Measures. These measures assess hospital safety, quality and efficiency based on national performance measures that are specific to health care” UMC officials added.
Virtually all acute care hospitals are measured and assessed through the Leapfrog system.
