At AdventHealth, The Leapfrog Group's hospital safety grades aren't just another nice-to-have recognition or rating — it's a core part of the clinical agenda, which is reflected in 32 of the health system's 42 eligible hospitals receiving an "A" grade this fall,and its Daytona Beach (Fla.) hospital achieving its 24th straight 'A.'
"It is very intentional. Our top leadership recognizes the criticality of this and this has been a focused goal for the entire organization," William Scharf, MD, AdventHealth's executive director of safety and quality, told Becker's.
Leapfrog's safety grades are the only ratings program solely based on a hospital's ability to protect patients from preventable errors and harms, which is why they garner so much attention among healthcare leaders and consumers alike each spring and fall when new data is released.
In 2015, after clinical leaders at the Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based system reviewed results, they established "clinical imperatives," which set forth the expectation that all of its hospitals earn a 4 or 5 star rating from CMS, or an "A" Leapfrog safety grade, Dr. Scharf said. This fall, Advent Health Daytona Beach was among just 18 hospitals in the country that received its 24th consecutive 'A' grade since the ratings program began in 2012.
In 2022, patient experience scores across the U.S. worsened for the second year straight, according to the latest data. Five patient experience measures — nurse communication, doctor communication, staff responsiveness, communication about medicine and discharge information — are factored into a hospital's safety grade.
Throughout 2023, however, that trend has been reversing at AdventHealth.
"We are seeing that these have been increasing, especially over the past year as COVID has subsided," Dr. Scharf said.
He linked AdventHealth's progress to three key strategies, all of which focus on communication and are directly related to the five experience measures. The first is nurses on all units complete hourly and purposeful visits — purposeful meaning the visits go beyond a check-the-box drop in and address any specific patient needs and the plan of care. Nurse leaders also complete purposeful visits and provide service recovery when needed. The third is daily multidisciplinary rounds where nurses and hospitalists convene to discuss a patient's plan of care.
"With the combination of these three, [strategies] we are addressing nurse communication, doctor communication, communication about medications and discharge medications — and we are seeing results," Dr. Scharf said.
Over the past several years, a rising number of AdventHealth hospitals have earned A safety grades. In 2019, the number was 19. In 2022, more than two dozen earned an A. And this fall, 32. In March 2022, it became the first health system to earn the Emerald Award from Leapfrog, which recognizes patient safety, quality and transparency.
"At first glance when people hear about patient experience, they think about groundskeeping in the hospital, but patient experience is the intersection of quality and safety," Dr. Scharf said. "That's something we treasure and value very much."