The LEAPFROG GROUP safety leaps are designed to change the system of health care.

Estimates of as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of problems in patient safety. Every hour, 10 Americans die in a hospital due to avoidable errors; another 50 are disabled.*
Today, you can probably get more information about choosing a TV than choosing a doctor or hospital. LEAPFROG is changing that by working to make reporting health care quality and outcomes a routine feature of the US health care system. This information on health care quality is provided so that you can compare hospitals, much like Consumer Reports publications.
*To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. The 1999 Institute of Medicine report
View Colorado hospital reports

Hospitals should report about their efforts to the LEAPFROG Group. The LEAPFROG GROUP for Patient Safety proposes that hospitals take "THREE LEAPS" which scientific evidence shows will reduce deaths and injury due to preventable medical mistakes.

Are most hospitals in the U.S. meeting these leaps?
Not yet. Nationwide 55% of hospitals responded to LEAPFROG’s survey. Many of those reporting are now working on these important initiatives. Computerized medication order systems are instituted in 5% reporting hospitals and 16% indicated plans to do so by 2005. Intensive care units staffed at least eight hours a day by critical care specialists are present in 24% of reporting hospitals.

Should every hospital report?
YES. LEAPFROG is building on the Three Leaps by adding the National Quality Forum’s Safe Practices measures as the new Leap Four. These 27 new measures are especially designed for all hospitals no matter what size or location.

Choose the safest hospitals.
Ask the following questions:
• Do my doctors always use computer systems to order prescription medication?
• Does the hospital have full-time doctors certified in critical care?
• How many operations did the hospital perform last year?
• Is the hospital working to create a culture of safety?

To see if your hospital reported to the LEAPFROG survey
View Colorado hospital reports.
If it is, Bravo! Call and commend them for reporting. Preventable medical mistakes are a problem you can do something about. If the hospital has not yet reported, call the Director for Quality and ask when they will.

View hospital mortality rates.

Hospitals in other states are listed at the LEAPFROG Group website www.LeapFrogGroup.org.

The LEAPFROG GROUP for patient safety asks hospitals if they adhere to the following four quality and safety practices. Significant scientific evidence shows that these practices reduce unnecessary deaths and injuries.

LEAP 1 An RX for RX
Choose a hospital that requires its staff to use computers to order medications, tests and procedures. This is called a Computerized Physician Order Entry system (CPOE).

LEAP 2: Sick People Need Special Care
Choose hospital with an intensive care unit (ICU) that is staffed by doctors and other caregivers who have special training in critical care. These doctors are called ‘intensivists’.

LEAP 3: Practice and Results Make Perfect
Select a hospital with lots of experience and the best results for specific procedures, surgeries or conditions. This is known as Evidence Based Hospital Referral (High risk procedures).

LEAP 4: Leapfrog Safe Practices Score
Select a hospital that has a high LEAPFROG Safe Practices Score. This means it has put in place the 27 procedures to reduce preventable medical mistakes.

Research commissioned by Leapfrog has shown that if the first three leaps were implemented in every non-rural hospital in the U.S. we could save up to 65,341 lives and prevent up to 907,600 medication errors each year (Birkmeyer 2004). Implementation could also save up to $41.5 billion annually (Conrad 2005).

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