St. Luke’s earns safety ranking, acheivement awards

The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit health care ratings organization has awarded top safety grades to St. Luke’s hospital campuses.

The Safety Grade assigns letter grades of A, B, C, D and F twice annually — in the spring and fall — to hospitals nationwide based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms. Five of St. Luke’s University Health Network campuses – Bethlehem, Anderson, Miners, Monroe and Warren – were among those hospitals awarded an “A” for their commitment to keeping patients safe and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S.

“This A rating is an important validation of St. Luke’s continued focus on and commitment to patient safety,” St. Luke’s Vice President and Chief Quality Officer Donna Sabol said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our doctors, nurses and other staff, who have earned Leapfrog’s top honors by making patient safety their overriding priority in everything they do.”

Developed under the guidance of a Blue Ribbon National Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

To see St. Luke’s full grades, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.

Acheivement awards

St. Luke’s University Health Network earned an Achievement Award from The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania for its outstanding efforts to improve health care in the state.

Fourteen awards were selected from 127 submissions for their exceptional work and innovation in patient care, community outreach and staff leadership.

“This is an outstanding achievement,” said St. Luke’s Vice President and Chief Quality Officer Donna Sabol. The project illustrates how St. Luke’s commitment to excellence results not only in better patient outcomes, but also cost savings that are reflected in the Network’s lower prices, she said.

St. Luke’s has won 20 HAP awards since 2010.

The winning project, “Developing an Industry-Leading Vaccine Management Program,” identified ways to reduce vaccine storage and handling deficiencies that lead to reduced vaccine efficacy and vaccine wastage. It was submitted by Tracy Arnold, BSN, RN; Christopher Smoyer, MBA; Mary Harris, BSN, RN; and Dr. Michael Abgott, MD.

Entries were evaluated by a 16-judge panel. The panelists, drawn from Pennsylvania and across the nation, represented the public and private sectors, business organizations, consumer groups and renowned health care quality institutes. The Achievement Awards program began during 1978.