SLUHN hospitals honored by watchdog group

St. Luke’s University Heath Network shined in the Leapfrog Group 2022 Top Hospitals and Top Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC) rankings. 

The Leapfrog Group, the national nonprofit watchdog organization that rates hospitals on how well they protect patients from errors and infections, as well as the effectiveness of procedures and other care they provide named St. Luke’s Hospital Allentown Campus and St. Luke’s Hospital Anderson Campus Top 2022 Small Teaching Hospitals. 

St. Luke’s Hospital Warren Campus in New Jersey was also named to the list. 

The elite award is one of the most competitive honors American hospitals can receive in safety and quality, Leapfrog Group said.  

St. Luke’s Endoscopy Center – Buxmont, Sellersville, was the only facility in Pennsylvania to be awarded a Top ASC award. 

“These awards are a credit to St. Luke’s outstanding leadership, providers, nurses and other hospital staff and volunteers,” said St. Luke’s Chief Quality Officer Donna Sabol. “Working together, we have achieved a level of excellence that benefits our entire region by ensuring that residents have access to world-class health care.” 

 The highly competitive award honors an elite selection of 12 ASCs across the country for their commitment to patient safety and quality, including error prevention, safe staffing, patient experience, hand hygiene, and surgical checklist protocols.  

“Leapfrog’s Top Hospitals and Top ASCs Awards provide critical patient safety information to consumers,” said Carl Seitz, president, Lehigh Valley Business Coalition on Healthcare (LVBCH), which is a Leapfrog Regional Leader, working with providers, purchasers, payors and patients in Pennsylvania to drive safe, high-quality health care.  

“On behalf of our members and our community we are committed to collaborating with local hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and other stakeholders to ensure patients in Pennsylvania are receiving the safest possible care. We are proud of our local facilities, and facilities across the state, that have received these distinctions.”  

Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said, “We are honored to recognize our 2022 Top Hospitals. Their commitment to transparency and excellence saves lives and enriches communities every second of every day. 

“We also honor our 2022 Top ACSs. They deliver high quality care in their communities by meeting Leapfrog’s stringent standards for excellence,” she said. “These ASCs truly put patients first.”  

 The Top Hospital award is given to teaching, general, rural and children’s hospitals that publicly report their performance through the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and meet the high standards defined in the Top Hospitals Methodology. 

 This includes infection rates, maternity care and a hospital’s ability to prevent medication errors, among other standards. A total of 115 hospitals were selected as Top Hospitals, including: 12 Top Children’s Hospitals, 32 Top General Hospitals, 13 Top Rural Hospitals and 58 Top Teaching Hospitals. 

Last month, Leapfrog released its fall Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, awarding top marks to every St. Luke’s University Health Network hospital eligible for evaluation – 10 campuses in total. Nationwide, the only other health system with eight or more hospitals to earn straight A’s was the Mayo Clinic.