Rush University Medical Center Named a Top Teaching Hospital

Rush University Medical Center has been named a Top Teaching Hospital by the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit hospital watchdog organization. Leapfrog announced the recipients of its annual Top Hospital designations today.

Rush is one of 36 recipients of the Top Teaching Hospital honor nationwide, and one of two in Illinois. Rush also is among an elite group of 109 hospitals that Leapfrog recognized in any of its four Top Hospital categories, out of more than 1,800 eligible hospitals nationwide. The other Top Hospital categories are general, rural and children’s hospitals.

To be eligible to be a Top Hospital, a hospital must have participated in the most recent Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which Leapfrog conducts twice a year, and must have received an “A” in the latest round of twice-yearly grades for safety that Leapfrog awards. The grade is based on the survey and publicly reported health data. All three Rush system hospitals received A‘s in both of this year’s grading periods.

In addition to the safety grade, the criteria for the Top Hospital designation include other indicators of quality of patient care measured by Leapfrog’s survey, such as inpatient care management, medication safety, maternity care and infection rates. Leapfrog’s rigorous standards are defined in each year’s Top Hospital Methodology.

“The high quality of care that Rush University Medical Center provides already was evident in the 12 straight A’s we’ve received since Leapfrog began awarding safety grades. We’re proud that Leapfrog now also has recognized the broader extent of our excellent care by designating the Rush a Top Teaching Hospital,” said Larry Goodman, MD, CEO of the Rush system and Rush University Medical Center.

“Most importantly, the award affirms that we’re providing the highest level of care to our patients. I congratulate everyone at Rush whose hard work has made this and our many other honors possible.”

To see the full list of institutions honored as 2017 Top Hospitals, visit www.leapfroggroup.org/tophospitals.

Top Teaching Hospital designation, A grade for safety are latest in steady stream of honors

Leapfrog’s Top Teaching Hospital designation and A grade for safety are the latest in a consistent stream of honors for Rush University Medical Center and the other Rush system hospitals. These accolades are unique among U.S. academic health systems and include the following recognitions:

• Rush University Medical Center ranked fourth among 107 leading academic medical centers in the United States, up from fifth last year, in a national study conducted by the health care services company Vizient. It was the fifth consecutive time Rush has been ranked among the top five in the annual Quality and Accountability Study and the ninth time since the University HealthSystem Consortium, now part of Vizient, began the study in 2005.
• U.S. News & World Report ranked eight programs at Rush University Medical Center among the best in the country in the latest edition of its annual “Best Hospitals” issue. 
• Rush University Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital each have received four stars from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Hospital Compare overall rating. Both have been rated four stars in each quarter since July of 2016, when CMS began issuing the overall rating.  
• Rush University Medical Center received its fourth consecutive Magnet designation, the highest honor in nursing, in January 2016, and Rush Oak Park Hospital received Magnet status in March of that year.
• This March, the Human Rights Campaign — a civil rights organization that advocates for equality for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and/or queer/questioning — named Rush University Medical Center a Leader in LGBT Health Equality for the ninth consecutive year. The HRC also named Rush Oak Park Hospital a leader for the fourth consecutive year.
• Rush has been named one of the best hospitals to work for by indeed.com and topped the list of nurse.org’s Best Hospitals in Illinois for Nurses.
• Rush University Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital repeatedly have been named among the Most Wired hospitals in the nation. 
• Rush University Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital both have received the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award, which recognizes hospitals that provide an overall outstanding patient experience. Healthgrades evaluates patient experience performance by applying a scoring methodology to 10 patient experience measures, using data collected from the 32-question survey of the hospital’s own patients. Hospitals in the top 15 percent with the highest overall patient experience scores are recognized as Outstanding Patient Experience Award recipients.