Miller Children’s Hospital Named to Leapfrog Group’s Top Hospital List For Second Year in A Row

Miller Children’s Hospital Named to Leapfrog 2007 Top Hospitals List

Only Eight Children’s Hospital in Nation; Two From California Make the List

(Long Beach, Calif.)—Sept. 27—Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., was one of eight children’s hospitals named to the 2007 Leapfrog Top Hospitals list—only Miller Children’s, and three other children’s hospitals, made both the 2006 and 2007 lists. The listing is based on recently released results from the Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey, a national rating system that provides an up-to-the-minute assessment of a hospital's quality and safety.

The Survey results from more than 1,285 adult and children’s hospitals that responded to the Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey as of Aug. 31. Only eight children’s hospitals, who responded to the survey, fully met the standards for these three criteria:

• Intensive Care Unit Physician Staffing –Intensive care units are staffed by trained Intensive Care Unit Specialists or Intensivists
• Leapfrog Safe Practices Scores – How well do hospitals perform seven high-risk procedures and care for three high-risk neonatal conditions
• Evidence-Based Hospital Referral – Met Neonatal Intensive Care Unit standard for high-risk and complicated newborns

Since Leapfrog added new measures to the 2007 survey and made necessary modifications to the Top Hospitals criteria, some of last year’s Top Hospitals did not satisfy this year’s criteria. The complete 2007 list and detailed explanation of the Top Hospitals methodology and the differences between the 2006 and 2007 lists can be found at www.leapfroggroup.org.

About The Leapfrog Group
On behalf of the millions of Americans for whom many of the nation’s largest corporations and public agencies buy health benefits, The Leapfrog Group—founded by the Business Roundtable in 2000—aims to use its members’ collective leverage to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality, and affordability of health care for Americans. It is a voluntary program aimed at mobilizing employer purchasing power to alert America’s health industry that big leaps in health care safety, quality and customer value will be recognized and rewarded.

About Miller Children’s Hospital
Located on the campus of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Miller Children's Hospital is a full-service hospital providing a complete range of primary and specialty care for children of all ages, as well as expectant mothers. The hospital's many specialized services include the MemorialCare Center for Women, Jonathan Jaques Children's Cancer Center, the Stramski Children's Developmental Center, Bickerstaff Pediatric Family HIV Center, and pediatric abuse and violence intervention, cardiac, cystic fibrosis/pulmonary, endocrine, gastrointestinal, rehabilitation, renal, rheumatology and spina bifida centers.