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CONTACT: Carol Ann Campbell
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Report Finds 38 of 62 New Jersey Hospitals Have Recommended Intensivist Coverage in Place
Appropriate Staffing Can Mean the Difference Between Life and Death
PRINCETON, NJ — July 14, 2016 — A new report released today by health care non-profit The Leapfrog Group and analyzed by Castlight Health indicates that just 38 of the 62 New Jersey hospitals with ICUs that reported in the 2015 Leapfrog Hospital Survey have the recommended intensivist coverage in place.
Leapfrog’s standard calls for hospitals to have one or more board-certified intensivists on staff, exclusively providing care in the ICU, available for eight hours per day, seven days a week, and for intensivists to return calls within five minutes, 95 percent of the time. Hospitals can partially meet the standard by having intensivists available via telemedicine.
Seven NJ hospitals declined to report on their ICU staffing, a response that should raise concerns for patients, according to leaders at the Quality Institute. There is no other publicly available source for this information. And one additional hospital reported that it did not have an ICU.
“Because appropriate staffing can mean the difference between life or death for the patient, New Jersey hospitals need to work harder to meet the Leapfrog standard for staffing their ICUs,” said Linda Schwimmer, president and CEO of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute.
The percentage of hospitals meeting Leapfrog’s standard was highest in Arizona, where 87 percent of reporting hospitals in the state met the standard. At least 60 percent of hospitals met the standard in six additional states.
About the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute
The New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute is the only independent, nonpartisan, multi-stakeholder advocate for health care quality in New Jersey. The Quality Institute’s mission is to undertake projects and promote system changes that ensure that quality, safety, accountability and cost-containment are closely linked to the delivery of health care services in New Jersey. Learn more about us at www.njhcqi.org. More information about the 10th Anniversary specifically can be found at www.njhcqi.org/MWC10th.