Download the Leapfrog Hospital Survey Overview
The Leapfrog Hospital Survey, Leapfrog’s hallmark public reporting initiative, was launched in 2001 and is now in version 9.0. The Leapfrog Hospital Survey is divided into nine sections:
Hospital Profile
The Hospital Profile includes questions about demographic and contact information. The Profile can be accessed and updated anytime throughout the year via the Survey Dashboard after logging into the Online Hospital Survey Tool.
Section 1: Basic Hospital Information
Section 1 includes questions about your hospital’s bed size, admissions, ICU operations, and teaching status. This section also includes questions on billing practices and health equity. In 2023, the subsection on hospital information (1A) includes a new optional fact-finding question regarding your hospital’s environmental services that will not be scored or publicly reported. The subsection on informed consent (1C) will be scored and publicly reported.
Section 2: Medication Safety
Section 2 includes questions about your hospital’s use of CPOE and BCMA, and (for adult and general hospitals) questions about your hospital’s medication reconciliation process. The subsection on your hospital’s EHR application (2B) is only applicable to adult and general hospitals and will not be scored or publicly reported. In 2023, the subsection on BCMA (2C) includes new optional fact-finding questions regarding your hospital’s use of BCMA in pre-op units, PACUs, and the emergency department, and will not be scored or publicly reported.
Section 3: Adult and Pediatric Complex Surgery
Section 3 includes questions about your hospital volume and process for privileging surgeons for eleven high-risk procedures, outcomes for mitral valve repair and replacement, and participation in The Society of Thoracic Surgeon’s Congenital Heart Surgery Database for hospitals that perform the Norwood procedure. This section also includes questions about surgical appropriateness and the implementation of a safe surgery checklist.
Section 4: Maternity Care
Section 4 includes questions about elective delivery, cesarean birth, episiotomy, newborn bilirubin screening, and DVT prophylaxis for women undergoing cesarean delivery. The section also includes questions about high-risk deliveries, including volume and outcomes. In 2023, the subsection on maternity care volume (4A) includes new questions about maternity care services that will be publicly reported. The subsection on cesarean birth (4C) includes new optional fact-finding questions about cesarean births stratified by racial and ethnic categories that will not be scored or publicly reported.
Section 5: ICU Physician Staffing (IPS)
Section 5 includes questions about the management of critical care patients and the staffing structure of your hospital’s pediatric and adult general medical and/or surgical ICUs and neuro ICUs.
Section 6: Patient Safety Practices
Section 6 includes questions about your hospital’s adherence to two National Quality Forum-endorsed Safe Practices, questions about your hospital’s nurse staffing and skill mix, and questions about hand hygiene practices. In 2023, the subsection on nurse staffing and skill mix (6C) will be scored and publicly reported.
Section 7: Managing Serious Errors
Section 7 includes questions about your hospital’s response to Never Events. In addition, Leapfrog collects information via its NHSN Group about five healthcare-associated infections (CLABSI, CAUTI, MRSA, C. diff., and SSI: Colon). Hospitals reporting on Section 7B: Healthcare-Associated Infections are required to join Leapfrog’s NHSN Group. Important information and deadlines are available on the Join NHSN Group webpage.
Section 8: Pediatric Care
Section 8 includes questions about patient experience (CAHPS Child Hospital Survey) and Computed Tomography (CT) radiation dose for pediatric patients. The subsection on CT dose (8B) includes a set of optional fact-finding questions that will not be scored or publicly reported in 2023.
Section 9: Outpatient Procedures
Section 9 includes questions about the volume and safety of same-day procedures performed in hospital outpatient departments, as well as the experience of patients who had a same-day surgery performed.
Section 1: Basic Hospital Information, Section 2: Medication Safety, Section 4: Maternity Care, Section 5: ICU Physician Staffing (IPS), Section 6: Patient Safety Practices, and Section 7: Managing Serious Errors are required to submit a Survey via the Online Hospital Survey Tool. Hospitals are strongly urged to submit all sections of the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and can indicate within a section if a measure does not apply.
In addition to the Survey questions, adult and general hospitals that indicate they have a CPOE system in at least one inpatient unit are asked to demonstrate, via a test, that the inpatient CPOE system can alert physicians to at least 60% of frequent serious medication errors known to cause harm to patients. Adult and general hospitals can access the CPOE Evaluation Tool immediately after completing the Hospital Profile in the Online Hospital Survey Tool. Carefully review the information on the Prepare for a CPOE Tool webpage.
Any changes made to the measure specifications after April 1 will be reflected in the hard copy of the Survey in the Reference Information sections under the “Change Summary” header. In addition, the updates to the specifications will be highlighted in yellow. If the changes are substantial, we will email the Primary Survey Contact your hospital provided in the Hospital Profile of the Online Hospital Survey Tool. If the notification is sent before your hospital submits a 2023 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the email will go to the Primary Survey Contact provided in the previous year’s Survey.
The Leapfrog Group and its participating members are committed to presenting information that is as current as possible, therefore we allow hospitals to update and resubmit their Survey until the November 30 Late Submission and Performance Update Deadline. Please carefully review the reporting periods in each section before updating your Survey. Leapfrog Hospital Survey Results are updated monthly beginning in July on Leapfrog’s public reporting website. Hospitals are required to update the information in their Survey within 30 days of any change in status. We reserve the right to decertify information that is not current. More information on updating your Survey is available on the Updating Your Hospital Survey webpage.