In recognition of a growing body of studies highlighting the key role nurses play in patient safety, The Leapfrog Group announced they will publicly report on hospitals that have demonstrated nursing excellence on Leapfrog's annual hospital survey. Making the announcement at AARP's Champion Nursing Council and Coalition Meeting in Washington, DC, Leapfrog's CEO Leah Binder stated, "With this addition to our annual survey, Leapfrog is recognizing the vital role nurses play in patient safety and their strong commitment to transparency. As I visit hospitals across the country, I am constantly finding that the highest performing hospitals, many of Leapfrog's Top Hospitals, have earned the prestigious recognition of Magnet® and nurses are the most vocal supporters of making patient safety and quality information transparent. Our employer members value this designation, and its implications for safety, and believe hospitals deserve recognition when they achieve it."
The Magnet Recognition Program® was developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to recognize healthcare organizations that provide nursing excellence. The program also provides a vehicle for disseminating successful nursing practices and strategies. Recognizing quality patient care, nursing excellence, and innovations in professional nursing practice, the Magnet Recognition Program provides consumers with a reliable benchmark to measure the quality of care that they can expect to receive.
"We are thrilled that The Leapfrog Group has decided to recognize the achievement of the Magnet credential in this meaningful way," said Magnet Recognition Program® Director Craig Luzinski, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE. "Adding Magnet Recognition to the list of factors that exemplify safe and high quality care in the Leapfrog survey is an important way for these hospitals to be acknowledged for their nursing excellence."
Today's announcement comes as part of The Leapfrog Group's commitment to implement recommendations found in Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health." Binder joined other healthcare, business, consumer, and education leaders at a meeting convened by the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA), an initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. CCNA is working with national and state stakeholders to drive action in support of the IOM recommendations.
"Representing purchasers of healthcare, Leapfrog offers an important business perspective to the importance of strong nursing," said Susan Reinhard, PhD, RN, FAAN, Senior Vice President and Director, AARP Public Policy Institute and CCNA's Chief Strategist. "High quality health care requires high quality nurse-delivered care."
Hospitals participating in the Leapfrog Hospital Survey that indicate they have current Magnet® status designation, as determined by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) will automatically earn full credit for Safe Practice #9 Nursing Workforce. This section of the survey is used to score hospitals on their commitment to staffing their hospitals with highly trained nurses and putting those nurses in leadership positions which allow them to have substantial input into patient safety issues.
The free survey, which is open to every acute-care hospital in the country, is the gold standard for comparing hospitals' performance on the national standards of safety, quality, and efficiency. The Leapfrog Hospital Survey is the nation's oldest and most transparent all-payor national hospital survey. Leapfrog's Survey team consult with leading purchasers and several panels of experts to continually update the survey to reflect the most up to date evidence and assure alignment with other national reporting initiatives such as CMS and the Joint Commission.