Advancing Quality and Safety - Quality Awards

Below is a listing of recent awards that show our hospital’s commitment to quality:

BWH Makes 2010 Leapfrog Top Hospitals List

December 1, 2010 — BWH has been named as a member of the 2010 Leapfrog Top Hospitals - one of 65 hospitals from a field of nearly 1200.  The announcement came at Leapfrog's 10^th anniversary meeting. The 2010 list includes university and other teaching hospitals, children's hospitals and community hospitals in rural, suburban and urban settings.  The selection is based on the results of the Leapfrog Group's national survey that measures hospitals' performance in crucial areas of patient safety and quality.  

American Stroke Association Gold Award

November 9, 2010 — BWH was awarded the American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes BWH's commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines. To receive the award, BWH achieved an 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Performance Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care. 

2010 Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare’s Hospital Honor Roll

October 2010 – BWH named to Harvard Pilgrim's Hospital Honor Roll which recognizes those adult, acute care hospitals whose performance was among the top 25% of those measured nationally on a set of composite quality and patient experience measures, as reported by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Hospital Compare, and Leapfrog patient safety measures.

Health Imaging & IT's Top 25 Connected List

BWH IS and Partners IS

August 6, 2010 - For the seventh year in a row, BWH Radiology and IS secured the hospital a spot on Health Imaging & IT's Top 25 "Most Connected Healthcare Facilities" list. BWH is recognized for implementing decision support and CPOE, which has reduced utilization of high-cost radiology exams by 15 percent over three years. Decision support tools also automate presentation of relevant lab data, patient history and medication information to radiologists. Immediate electronic access to images by referring physicians helped reduce "leakage" by 25 percent. The radiology department tracks key performance indicators via a quality dashboard, contributing to both improved patient safety and cost effectiveness.

BWH Ranks 8th on U.S. News & World Report Top Hospitals

For the 19th consecutive year, BWH secured its place on the U.S. News & World Report’s Honor Roll of America’s Best Hospitals, ranking eighth. BWH ranked in the top 10 for Cancer, Cardiology and Heart Surgery, Diabetes and Endocrinology, Gynecology, Nephrology, and Rheumatology. BWH also placed in the top 20 for Gastroenterology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology, and Urology.

CIO 100

June 4, 2010 - BWH is a 2010 recipient of the CIO 100 award. Presented by CIO magazine, the award is given to 100 companies each year for creating new business value by innovating with technology. BWH is honored as a pioneer for its electronic medication administration process. For the past eight years, the hospital has been rolling out a new electronic medication administration process that uses bar coding at the pharmacy and the bedside to prevent potentially fatal errors in dispensing medication. In its most recent phase, the system has been expanded to oncology units. The hospital's studies show that the new system has decreased potentially harmful medication errors by 67 percent. It also reduces the amount of time nurses spend on medication issues, which gives them more time for patient care. The hospital estimates the reduced errors translate to $2.2 million in cost savings per year.

2009 Organ Donation Medal of Honor

November 2009 - Brigham and Women's Hospital has received the 2009 Organ Donation Medal of Honor. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recognizes organizations for achieving and sustaining national goals for donation, including a donation rate of 75 percent or more of eligible donors at their facilities.

BWH Receives National Recognition for Exemplary Outcomes

September 21, 2009 — The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) has recognized Brigham and Women’s Hospital as one of  25 ACS NSQIP participating hospitals in the United States that have achieved exemplary outcomes for surgical patient care. ACS NSQIP is the only nationally validated quality improvement program for measuring and enhancing the care of surgical patients.

UHC Quality and Accountability Top Performer

October 11, 2007 — In 2007, for the third year in a row, the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) recognized Brigham and Women's Hospital for demonstrating excellence in delivering high-quality, safe, effective and equitable care to patients. Please click here for the full press release.

Thomson: Top 100 & Top Performance Improvement Leader

August 7, 2007 — Thomson Healthcare named BWH as one of the nation's top 100 hospitals and as a top performance improvement leader in 2007. This announcement appears in the August 6, 2007 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.

Heart Failure 30-Day Death Rate Lower than the U.S. National Average

August 2007 — Based on July 2007 data from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Hospital Compare Web site, Brigham and Women's Hospital was among the only 38 (out of 4,807) hospitals nationwide, and one of only three in Massachusetts, to have a 30-day heart failure death rate significantly better than the U.S. national average death rate of 11%. Go to the HHS Hospital Compare Web site for more information about this achievement.

Joint Commission: Gold Seal of Approval 2007

February 2, 2007 — Brigham and Women's Hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission, which is responsible for accrediting hospitals nationwide. BWH underwent the accreditation survey in January 2007 and was, once again, given full accreditation in April 2007. Based on the Joint Commission Quality Check, BWH has better-than-average care for both Heart Attack and Heart Failure. To see the full Quality Check report, or to learn more about the Joint Commission, please click here.

NCQHC National Quality Health Care Award

February 24, 2006 — In 2006, Brigham and Women's Hospital became the first hospital in New England to win the prestigious National Quality Health Care Award from the National Committee for Quality Health Care (NCQHC). BWH is just the 13th hospital to receive this annual award, which is given based on performance across eight dimensions of quality: leadership commitment; strategic planning; patient-centered practices; innovative informatics and application of new technologies; building a committed workforce; evidence-based performance measurement and improvement systems; strong financial management; and community health needs.