The Leapfrog Group identified and has since refined four hospital quality and safety practices that are the focus of its healthcare provider performance comparisons and hospital recognition and reward. Based on independent scientific evidence, the quality practices are:

• Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE): With CPOE systems, hospital staff enter medication orders via computer linked to prescribing error prevention software. CPOE has been shown to reduce serious prescribing errors in hospitals by more than 50%.
  
•  Evidence-Based Hospital Referral (EHR): Consumers and health care purchasers should choose hospitals with extensive experience and the best results with certain high-risk surgeries and conditions. By referring patients needing certain complex medical procedures to hospitals offering the best survival odds based on scientifically valid criteria — such as the number of times a hospital performs these procedures each year or other process or outcomes data — research indicates that a patient’s risk of dying could be reduced by 40%.
  
• ICU Physician Staffing (IPS): Staffing ICUs with doctors who have special training in critical care medicine, called ‘intensivists’, has been shown to reduce the risk of patients dying in the ICU by 40%.
  
• Leapfrog Quality Index - The National Quality Forum’s 27 Safe Practices: The National Quality Forum-endorsed 30 Safe Practices cover a range of practices that, if utilized, would reduce the risk of harm in certain processes, systems or environments of care. Included in the 30 practices are the original 3 Leapfrog leaps. For this new leap, added in April 2004, hospitals’ progress on the remaining 27 safe practices will be assessed.

This list is based on four primary criteria. (1) There is overwhelming scientific evidence that these quality and safety leaps will significantly reduce preventable medical mistakes. (2) Their implementation by the health industry is feasible in the near term. (3) Consumers can readily appreciate their value. (4) Health plans, purchasers or consumers can easily ascertain their presence or absence in selecting among health care providers. 

More on Leapfrog: