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(December 20, 2019) Tampa, FL – AdventHealth West Florida Division has once again earned the highest marks possible for patient safety and quality. The prestigious Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit health care ratings organization, announced the Top Hospitals in the country and AdventHealth Carrollwood, AdventHealth North Pinellas, AdventHealth Sebring, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel and AdventHealth Zephyrhills all received the Top General Hospital award. Additionally, AdventHealth Wauchula earned the Top Rural Hospital designation for the sixth time in a row.
Top General Hospital is an elite designation with only 37 hospitals in the country and 21 hospitals in Florida receiving the recognition from the Leapfrog safety group. Only the highest performing hospitals on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, earning an A rating, are eligible to be recognized annually with this award. Top Hospitals have better systems in place to prevent medication errors, higher quality on maternity care and lower infection rates.
"Patient safety is our priority and we are honored to have six of the 21 hospitals in Florida named as a Top Hospital. We are commitment to clinical excellence and making investments in our people and hospitals so that we can deliver the highest quality of care to our communities,” said Mike Schultz, President and CEO, AdventHealth West Florida Division. “As an organization, it is imperative that we work continuously to elevate care and provide the safest environment possible for every patient, every time.”
In addition to the six Top Hospital designations, all participating hospitals in the AdventHealth West Florida Division received an A or B in patient safety from the Leapfrog Group, including:
- AdventHealth Carrollwood (10th consecutive A)
- AdventHealth Dade City (B April 2018)
- AdventHealth Lake Placid (11th consecutive A)
- AdventHealth North Pinellas (13th consecutive A)
- AdventHealth Ocala (B acquired August 2018)
- AdventHealth Sebring (4th consecutive A)
- AdventHealth Tampa (4th consecutive A)
- AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (10th consecutive A)
- AdventHealth Zephyrhills (4th consecutive A)
The Safety Grade assigns letter grades of A, B, C, D and F to hospitals nationwide based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms.
"This outstanding accomplishment is only possible because of our dedicated leadership, physicians and staff who are committed to this journey of excellence in patient safety," said Dr. Robin McGuinness, Senior Executive Officer of Patient Outcomes, AdventHealth West Florida Division. "We’ve implemented very specific, tangible initiatives in all West Florida Division hospitals to ensure all of our hospitals reach an "A" grade in patient safety and follow the guidelines The Leapfrog Group sets as the standard for safe practices.”
AdventHealth voluntarily participates in the Leapfrog assessment and provides full transparency to our hospitals and our data to patient safety experts for review. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade measures 27 areas of hospital safety and scores hospitals with A, B, C, D and F grades based on that data.
To qualify for the Top Hospitals distinction, hospitals must rank top among peers in the 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which assesses hospital performance on the highest known standards for quality and patient safety and achieve top performance in its category. To see the full list of institutions honored as 2019 Top Hospitals, visit www.leapfroggroup.org/tophospitals.
About AdventHealth West Florida Division
The West Florida Division of AdventHealth has some of the nation’s brightest medical minds making lifesaving breakthroughs with surgical pioneers, scientists and researchers using leading edge technology and innovation to deliver our brand of whole-person care. Our network of care includes AdventHealth Carrollwood, AdventHealth Connerton, AdventHealth Dade City, AdventHealth Lake Placid, AdventHealth North Pinellas, AdventHealth Ocala, AdventHealth Sebring, AdventHealth Tampa, AdventHealth Wauchula, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel and AdventHealth Zephyrhills, as well as three freestanding offsite Emergency Rooms including AdventHealth Central Pasco ER, AdventHealth Palm Harbor ER and AdventHealth TimberRidge ER. We are more than hospitals, as we have a robust system of care including specialty acute care, over 200 primary care and specialty employed physicians, Express Care at Walgreens clinics, urgent care centers, wound care, physical therapy and home health care. AdventHealth is a faith-based not-for-profit health care system with a mission of Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ. AdventHealth has hundreds of care sites and nearly 50 hospitals across the United States. For more information about AdventHealth, visit AdventHealth.com, or Facebook.com/AdventHealth, and for West Florida Division, click here.
About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.