Hospitals get graded for patient safety

Politico Pro: Leapfrog Grading Hospitals For Safety
Hospital executives are about to find out if they make the grade under a new rating system developed by the Leapfrog Group that debuts online Wednesday -; and some are not happy about it. Under Leapfrog's Hospital Safety Score initiative, hospitals are given a letter grade -; A, B, C, D or F -; on how safely they treat patients. The grade reflects patient injuries, infection rates and the frequency of medical and medication errors (DoBias, 6/6).

Kaiser Health News: Lots of 'C's As Hospitals Get Graded For Patient Safety
The cities of New York and Los Angeles grade their restaurants on cleanliness and the precautions they take to avoid making customers sick. Now hospitals are getting similar assessments for their patient safety records from the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit devoted to patient safety. For 2,651 hospitals, Leapfrog created a single letter grade out of 26 different measures collected by Leapfrog or Medicare officials (Rau, 6/6).

Meanwhile, one of the leading medical journals reports on efforts to reduce unnecessary procedures.

JAMA: Materials Educate Patients to Make Wise Choices On Tests And Procedures
As multiple organizations step up efforts to encourage physicians to more wisely use clinical resources and reduce health care costs, professional organizations and consumer groups are conducting a parallel campaign to educate patients about testing and procedures that involve more cost than value. Over the past few years, several professional organizations and publications have launched efforts to eliminate wasteful or potentially harmful medical practices (Kuehn, 6/6).