Mat-Su Regional Earns an "A" for Patient Safety From National Quality Watchdog
4/30/2021
PALMER – Mat-Su Regional Medical Center earned an ‘A’ for quality on its spring report card from the Leapfrog Group, a national organization that monitors and measures patient safety at hospitals.
The 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, released April 29, rates hospitals on how well they protect patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections, and assigns a grade – from A through F – to hospitals across the country. Ratings are based exclusively on hospitals’ prevention of medical errors and other harms to patients in their care.
Mat-Su Regional is the only hospital in Alaska to earn an ‘A’ safety grade from Leapfrog.
“We are very excited to achieve an A grade from Leapfrog,” said Jen Moore, Mat-Su Regional’s chief quality officer. “This shows our commitment to safety and quality.”
An ‘A’ safety grade is an elite designation that communities should be proud of, according to Leapfrog Group President Leah Binder. “The past year has been extraordinarily difficult for hospitals, but Mat-Su Regional Medical Center shows us it is possible to keep a laser focus on patients and their safety, no matter what it takes,” Binder said.
“This recognition validates the emphasis we place on patient safety and quality care,” said Dave Wallace, Mat-Su Regional’s chief executive. “But more than that, it demonstrates how our culture of safety makes a tangible difference in people’s lives. What it represents from a consumer perspective is that patients can trust us to provide exceptional care when they need our services.”
Leapfrog uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,700 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.
Moore, who has worked in the hospital’s quality department since 2012, noted that Mat-Su Regional has made significant strides in quality improvements over the years, racking up a string of quality awards and accreditations.
Mat-Su Regional was the first hospital in Alaska to earn accreditation as a chest pain center from the American College of Cardiologists. It is also accredited as an Acute Stroke Ready Hospital by The Joint Commission—an accrediting body that sets national safety standards for hospitals.
Moore said the hospital also received the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association’s top patient safety award in 2019: High Reliability: Persevering in the Pursuit of Zero Patient Harm. “We earned this honor for developing a culture of safety and implementing evidence-based protocols that increase healthy outcomes for patients,” she said. “It really is what we focus on every day.”
“We are proud of our staff and medical providers for their hard work and dedication to ongoing quality standards and improvements that benefit our community. We are excited to continue on this journey of excellence,” Moore said.
Mat-Su Regional’s Quality Department along with Dr. Shannon Gulley, chief of the medical staff, CEO Dave Wallace, CNO Shari Giese and CQO Jen Moore, celebrate the hospital earning an ‘A’ from the Leapfrog Group for patient safety.
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