Quality and Safety

We are fully accredited by The Joint Commission, a national leader in setting quality and safety standards for health care.

We consistently earn the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval, which shows we have met or exceeded their high standards.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is a federal agency that collects data on how well a facility cares for its patients, what its mortality rates are, and how satisfied patients feel about the care they received. Their findings are reported on Hospital Compare. We consistently rank above average overall with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization that surveys hospitals on their quality, safety and patient outcomes. Its reports show factors such as the use of computerized medication ordering, hand washing, the use of specially trained doctors in intensive care units and other practices that reduce medical mistakes.

We fully meet Leapfrog standards for medication safety, inpatient care management and other important measures. Lahey has once again received A’s, the highest possible rating in The Leapfrog Group’s Fall Patient Safety Scores.

Patient CareLink is a statewide initiative that helps health care organizations continuously improve quality of care and patient safety. Using data from the Hospital Quality Alliance, the National Quality Forum and other sources, they help hospitals monitor improvement trends over time.

The ratio of the average number of patients to the number of nurses in an ICU is an important indicator of quality and safety. At Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, we track these numbers quarterly and make them available to patients, colleagues and regulatory agencies.

Our accreditations and recognitions support what our patients and their families already know—we put every effort into providing high quality care, and we succeed.

The Comprehensive Breast Health Center at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center is accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, a group of national professional organizations dedicated to improving the quality of care for people with breast cancer and other breast diseases. We are one of nineteen centers in Massachusetts to have earned this accreditation.

Each year US News & World Report’s hospital ranking help patients find quality care. Their 2018-2019 rankings place us in the top five in Massachusetts. We also ranked “High Performing” in a number of areas including aortic valve surgery, colon cancer surgery and heart failure care.

Our Center for Surgical Weight Loss is accredited as a Level 1A facility by the Bariatric Surgery Center Network Accreditation Program. The American College of Surgeons awards Level 1A accreditation to hospitals that have high-volume practices and can manage the most challenging and complex patients.

Our Department of Transplantation is among a select group of hospitals recognized by the Health Resources and Services Administration for success in increasing organ donation rates.

Lahey Hospital & Medical Center is committed to meeting the unique needs of older adults and their loved ones. We provide evidence-based, age-sensitive nursing care for our older patients, which lead to the best possible clinical outcomes. Because of this commitment to elder care, we are proud to accredited as a NICHE organization (Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders).