The Leapfrog Group, an association of large employers and health care purchasing organizations (OPM participates as a liaison) having its objective to improve health care quality and safety, has issued first list of fifty top U.S. hospitals. The Group explained its methodology as follows:

Top Hospitals fully meet Leapfrog’s standard for ICU physician staffing
(IPS) and the Leapfrog Safe Practices Score (SPS). The adult hospitals also
meet Leapfrog’s standards for two or more of the high-risk procedures or
conditions included in the Evidence-Based Hospital Referral (EHR) leap (some
do not apply to children’s hospitals), which were each given equal weight.
Full implementation of Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) was used to
break any ties.Then, if necessary, hospitals’ ranking on overall points for
the Leapfrog Safe Practices Score was used to break any remaining
ties.

I was surprised to find no hospitals in the D.C. metropolitan area on the list (although there are three from Baltimore, Sinai, University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins). Although Mass General and Brigham and Womens Hospitals which are associated with Harvard Medical School made the list, Yale New Haven did not.