Eight Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Southern California have been named 2011 Top Hospitals in a national list by the Leapfrog Group, a coalition which seeks to promote health care safety, quality, and affordability.
Ten Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California were also designated as a 'Top Hospital.' A total of 18 Kaiser Permanente facilities in California have received this recognition out of 52 Top Urban Hospitals nationwide.
The 2011 'Top Hospital' list is made up of three categories of hospitals: urban, rural, and children's hospitals, for a total of 65 Top Hospitals chosen from a field of nearly 1,200 hospitals across the nation.
Kaiser Permanente's Top Hospitals in Southern California are: Fontana, Los Angeles, Panorama City, Riverside, San Diego, South Bay, West Los Angeles, and Woodland Hills.
"Kaiser Permanente's electronic health record system enables us to blend advanced technology with our integrated system which not only empowers our members to manage their own care but it reduces potential errors when it comes to medication orders by a physician. This is having a positive life-changing impact on our members and the communities we serve," said Jeffrey Weisz, MD, medical director for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group.
"This honor further demonstrates the superior medical care we provide to nearly 3.5 million members in Southern California. And it reassures our patients that they will receive quality care when they are hospitalized," said Benjamin Chu, MD, MPH, MACP, group president for Kaiser Permanente Southern California and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii.
The Kaiser Permanente Top Hospitals in Northern California are: Antioch, Oakland, Richmond, Roseville, San Francisco, San Jose, South Sacramento, South San Francisco, Vacaville, and Walnut Creek.
To make the 'Top Hospital' list, medical centers participated in the 2011 Leapfrog Hospital Survey which focused on four critical areas of patient safety. Every hospital designated 'Top Hospital' demonstrated effective use of computerized physician orders for medications, met tough standards for nursing and physician staffing, successfully performed high-risk surgeries and procedures, and demonstrated efficient use of health care resources while maintaining high quality outcomes. In addition, hospitals are measured on their progress in preventing infections and other hospital-acquired conditions and adopting policies on the handling of serious medical errors.
ABOUT THE LEAPFROG GROUP
The Leapfrog Group is a coalition of public and private purchasers of employee health benefits founded a decade ago to work for improvements in health care safety, quality, and affordability. To view the complete list of the 2011 Leapfrog Top Hospitals go to www.leapfroggroup.org.
ABOUT KAISER PERMANENTE
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 3.5 million members in Southern California. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.
Contacts:
Kaiser Permanente
Southern California Region
Sandra
Hernandez-Millett
Office: 626-405-5384
