Our Lady of the Lake Ascension earns 2019 award

Highlighting its nationally recognized achievements in patient safety and quality, Our Lady of the Lake Ascension was named a Top General Hospital nationally by The Leapfrog Group.

Announced December 17, the Leapfrog Top Hospital award is widely acknowledged as one of the most competitive honors American hospitals can receive. The Top Hospital designation is awarded by The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers focused on health care safety and quality.

Our Lady of the Lake Ascension was the only hospital in Louisiana to receive the award.

"We are honored to receive this national recognition as a Top Hospital," said K. Scott Wester, president and CEO of Our Lady of the Lake. "Our Lady of the Lake Ascension is an integral part of the local community with a rich history of providing exceptional service and care. Ascension Parish is vibrant and growing, and we are honored to be the preferred healthcare provider."

The Top Hospital Award comes following Our Lady of the Lake Ascension and Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center's recent "A" Hospital Safety Grades, also from The Leapfrog Group.

About 2,100 hospitals were considered for the award. Among those, Our Lady of the Lake Ascension received a Top General distinction. A total of 120 hospitals were selected as Top Hospitals, including:

--10 Top Children's Hospitals

--37 Top General Hospitals

--18 Top Rural Hospitals

--55 Top Teaching Hospitals

Performance across many areas of hospital care is considered in establishing the qualifications for the award, including infection rates, practices for safer surgery, maternity care, and the hospital's capacity to prevent medication errors. The rigorous standards are defined in each year’s Top Hospital Methodology.

"We are pleased to recognize Our Lady of the Lake Ascension as a 2019 Leapfrog Top Hospital," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. "This demonstrates extraordinary dedication to patients and to the Ascension parish community. We congratulate the board, staff and clinicians whose efforts made this honor possible and know they share pride in this achievement."

To qualify for the Top Hospitals distinction, hospitals must rank top among peers in the 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which assesses hospital performance on the highest known standards for quality and patient safety, and achieve top performance in its category. To see the full list of institutions honored as 2019 Top Hospitals, visit www.leapfroggroup.org/tophospitals.

Contributed by Our Lady of the Lake Ascension