“Healthcare is complex, but at the end of the day nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our patients. And I have to tell you, it’s rewarding to see New Jersey’s focus on quality care reflected in this national report.

“The Leapfrog Safety Grade spans a number of areas within the hospital. It covers process measures like hand hygiene and staff responsiveness, but it also looks at hospital outcomes in areas such as infection rates, patient falls and pressure ulcers. Many of those outcome measures are areas we’ve focused on intently through our Hospital Improvement Innovation Network. It’s part of a federal contract in which NJHA’s affiliate, the Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey, is charged with leading the state’s hospitals in quality improvement efforts. We bring in national experts as guest faculty, incorporate “care bundles” into our processes based on evidence-based best practices and we measure our results against state and national benchmarks. We’ve seen significant improvement in these measures since our work first began in 2012.

“It really takes an ‘all-in’ approach to move the needle on healthcare quality. I would match New Jersey’s physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, support staff and hospital leaders with anyone, anywhere. Thanks to them for their hard work and commitment.”

Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grades can be found at www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.