Hospitals that have experienced a cybersecurity event or natural disaster or have an Extraordinary Circumstances Exception approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) (i.e., CMS Footnote 28) that impacts data availability during one or more Survey reporting periods can complete and submit a request form in order to participate in the 2026 Leapfrog Hospital Survey. If approved, hospitals will report on the impacted measures using the data available and exclude data from the month(s) impacted by the cybersecurity event, natural disaster, or CMS Extraordinary Circumstance. Results will still be calculated if minimum reporting requirements are met and will be displayed on the Survey Results website with the following footnote: "Results are based on limited data due to a reported cybersecurity event, natural disaster, or a CMS Extraordinary Circumstance exception."
For the purposes of the Hospital Safety Grade, a letter grade will still be calculated based on the data available, but any underlying measures impacted by the event will have results reported along with the following footnote: "Results are based on limited data due to a reported cybersecurity event, natural disaster, or a CMS Extraordinary Circumstance exception." For the purposes of Leapfrog Top Hospital, hospitals will still be eligible for Top Hospital pending committee review and subject to meeting all criteria.