Overlake Receives Top-Ranking for Patient Safety – Leapfrog ‘A’ in Spring 2019

Bellevue, Wash. – Overlake Medical Center & Clinics announced today that for the fourth rating period in a row, it has been awarded an ‘A’ safety rating from the national nonprofit organization, The Leapfrog Group. This marks the 13th ‘A’ rating in the past 14 rating cycles. Two times per year, the safety grades of ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘F’ are assigned to hospitals nationwide based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other types of harm among patients in their care. Overlake is one of only two hospitals in Puget Sound, and the only one on the Eastside, to have received so many ‘A’ grades from Leapfrog since the grading began in 2012.

“Overlake is incredibly proud to be recognized for providing year in and year out, the safest and highest quality healthcare for our patients,” said Overlake Chief Medical Officer David Knoepfler, MD. “We have a comprehensive culture of safety program that promotes excellence and teamwork leading to optimal care for our patients and receiving a Leapfrog ‘A’ grade is an honor and validation of our dedication to the community we serve.”
 
Overlake’s strategies for reducing harm events are founded on the value of transparency, where everyone can speak up and make a real difference. Rather than seeking to assign blame, Overlake’s “Just Culture” program treats employees as respected contributors and team members working toward the singular goal of outstanding patient care. Daily safety huddles bring together representatives from every department in the hospital and clinics where each safety report filed in the past 24 hours is reviewed, any concerns are aired and follow-up action items assigned. 

In addition, Overlake uses predictive analytical tools in Epic’s electronic health record (EHR) to reduce events, such as sepsis mortality, when treatment must begin within the first few hours of onset to offer the greatest chance of survival. The tool evaluates in real-time every patient’s risk factors and generates an overall score in the EHR based on the data. It then offers a checklist of interventions the based on the risk score. Overlake makes available on its intranet all of its quality and safety dashboards, allowing clinicians to make data-based decisions, and use the data to apply and replicate best practices for care. 

Overlake was one of only 13 hospitals in Washington state to receive an ‘A’ this cycle, one of only two hospitals in Washington to receive so many ‘A’ grades in the past seven years (13 of 14 cycles). “To be recognized nationally as an ‘A’ hospital is an accomplishment the whole community should take pride in,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Hospitals like Overlake Medical Center that earn an ‘A’ grade, and have repeatedly earned ‘A’s over the past several years, are making it a priority to protect patients from preventable medical harm and error.”

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 acute-care hospitals nationwide two times each year. The grades, which give consumers the information they need to make informed decisions, are free to the public, peer reviewed and calculated by top patient safety experts.