URAC and The Leapfrog Group have partnered to develop the Excellence in Hospital Website Transparency Best Practices Awards and Acknowledgement Program to identify outstanding hospital websites that promote transparency of quality measures in a manner that is useful and user-friendly for consumers. All hospitals who publicly report their Leapfrog Hospital Survey results are eligible.
The awards program consists of two parts. Part I is an analysis of the overall website transparency and is determined based on a set of objective criteria established in accordance with the National Quality Forum's guidelines for consumer-focused, Internet-based public reporting of health performance data as well as the Model Public Report Elements prepared for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and other research-based criteria. The criteria have been developed for the categories of design, credibility, literacy, and connectivity. Part II evaluates applicants in terms of best practices in website transparency and reporting, and is determined by a panel of expert judges.
All hospitals that meet a minimum number of the criteria in Part I will receive an Acknowledgement of Excellence in Hospital Website Transparency. Three winners will then be selected by the judging panel to receive the Best Practices in Hospital Website Transparency Award.
The awards program will be launched in April 2012, and all applications must be completed by September. The awards will be presented at the Annual Leapfrog's Regional Roll-Out Meetings in March 2013, which includes major employer and business coalition groups.
About URAC
URAC is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes health care quality through its accreditation, education and measurement programs. The URAC Health Web Site Accreditation program is an innovative, cost-effective quality improvement service that provides meaningful feedback to health Web site owners on how to improve the quality of online operations. URAC offers a wide range of quality benchmarking programs and services that keep pace with the rapid changes in the health care system and provide a symbol of excellence for organizations to validate their commitment to quality and accountability. Through its broad-based governance structure and an inclusive standards development process, URAC ensures that all stakeholders are represented in establishing meaningful quality measures for the entire health care industry. For more information, visit www.urac.org.