The Leapfrog Group on Tuesday released its 2018 Top Hospitals list, recognizing 118 hospitals for excellence in hospital quality, patient safety, and efficiency.

Just updated: Your 1-page guide to understanding Leapfrog's rating metrics and methodologies

Methodology

Leapfrog evaluates all hospitals by dividing them into four distinct categories and comparing their outcomes in six areas to their peers in that category.

To be eligible for the Top Hospital list, hospitals had to complete the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey and report on 28 individual performance measures within the six areas Leapfrog evaluates: medication safety; inpatient care management; infections; maternity care; inpatient surgery; and pediatric care.

Based on that data—and data collected from CMS—Leapfrog evaluates hospitals based on six criteria, including:

• Meeting Leapfrog's standard for computerized physician order entry;
• Complying with Leapfrog's never events policy; and
• Ranking in the top of their peer group on Leapfrog's Value Score, as calculated in the Leapfrog Value-Based Purchasing Platform.

The Top Hospitals

Leapfrog announced top hospitals in four categories: general hospitals, children's hospitals, rural hospitals, and teaching hospitals.

The top general hospitals, listed in alphabetical order, were:

• Adventist Health—Bakersfield;
• Bayshore Medical Center;
• Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital;
• Christus Mother Frances Hospital—Tyler;
• Elmhurst Memorial Hospital;
• Florida Memorial Hospital Apopka;
• Florida Hospital Carrollwood;
• Florida Hospital Heartland Medical Center;
• Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel;
• Florida Hospital Zephyrhills;
• Henderson Hospital;
• Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley;
• Inland Valley Medical Center;
• Inova Alexandria Hospital;
• Inspira Medical Center Woodbury;
• Jupiter Medical Center;
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital—Antioch;
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital—San Leandro;
• Kingwood Medical Center;
• Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute;
• Medical City Denton;
• Memorial Hospital Miramar;  
• Memorial Hospital West;
• Methodist Richardson Medical Center;
• Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital;
• Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital;
• Rancho Springs Medical Center;
• Riverview Medical Center;
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton;
• Saint Anne's Hospital;
• Sequoia Hospital;
• St. Charles Parish Hospital;
• St. Mary's Regional Medical Center of Reno;
• TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center; and
• UPMC East.

The top children's hospitals, listed in alphabetical order, were:

• Children’s Health - Children’s Medical Center Plano;
• Children’s Health-Children’s Medical Center Dallas;
• Children's National Health System;
• Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida;
• John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital;
• Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital;
• Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital & Health Network;
• Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children;
• Phoenix Children’s Hospital;
• St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children;
• Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus;
• UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland; and
• Wolfson Children’s Hospital.

The top rural hospitals, listed in alphabetical order, were:

• Blue Hill Memorial Hospital;
• Bridgton Hospital;
• East Liverpool City Hospital;
• FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital—Richmond;
• Florida Hospital Wauchula;
• Floyd Polk Medical Center;
• LincolnHealth;
• Memorial Medical Center - San Augustine;
• Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital; 
• Northern Maine Medical Center;
• OSF HealthCare St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group;
• OSF Holy Family Medical Center;
• Pampa Regional Medical Center;
• Rumford Hospital;
• Spectrum Health Gerber Hospital;
• UPMC Bedford Memorial; and
• Waldo County General Hospital.

The top teaching hospitals, listed in alphabetical order, were:

• Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center;
• Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center;
• Boston Medical Center;
• CarePoint Health-Bayonne Medical Center;
• Corpus Christi Medical Center—DRMC
• Eisenhower Medical Center;
• Florida Hospital Orlando;
• Henry Ford Hospital;
• Henry Ford Macomb Hospitals;
• Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital;
• Inova Fairfax Hospital;
• Jeanes Hospital;
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center;
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital—Roseville;
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital—San Francisco;
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital—Santa Clara;
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Orange County—Anaheim;
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Orange County—Irvine;
• Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center;
• Lancaster General Hospital;
• Loma Linda University Medical Center East Campus;
• Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital;
• Mercy Hospital Springfield;
• Mercy Hospital St. Louis;
• Methodist Charlton Medical Center;
• Michigan Medicine;
• Monmouth Medical Center;
• Mountainview Hospital;
• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center;
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital;
• Novant Health Matthews Medical Center;
• Novant Health UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center;
• Ocean Medical Center;
• Orlando Health- Orlando Regional Medical Center;
• Osceola Regional Medical Center;
• Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center;
• Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center;
• Presence Resurrection Medical Center;
• Presence Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center;
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset;
• Saint Joseph Hospital;
• Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital;
• St. David’s North Austin Medical Center;
• St. Joseph’s University Medical Center;
• St. Luke’s University Hospital—Bethlehem Campus;
• St. Mary’s Medical Center;
• St. Vincent’s Medical Center Clay County;
• The Miriam Hospital;
• UC San Diego Health Hillcrest—Hillcrest Medical Center;
• University of Chicago Medical Center;
• Virginia Hospital Center—Arlington Health System;
• Virginia Mason Medical Center; and
• Virtua Voorhees Hospital (Leapfrog release, 12/4; Commins, HealthLeaders Media, 12/4; Leapfrog Top Hospitals methodology, accessed 12/5). 

Cheat sheets: Learn how Leapfrog—and 4 other ratings programs—actually work

Download our one page sheets for summaries on the methodology and metric categories used in seven hospital quality rating programs:

• Leapfrog Group Top Hospitals
• CMS Overall Star Ratings
• Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Awards
• Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals
• US News and World Report Best Hospital Rankings

Get all the Cheat Sheets