Leapfrog Group touts record number of ratings for hospitals, surgery centers

This week, The Leapfrog Group hailed a new milestone.

The organization published patient safety ratings for more than 6,000 facilities nationwide, a record. The ratings include more than 2,400 hospitals, and more than 3,900 ambulatory surgery centers.

An independent group focused on patient safety, The Leapfrog Group also expanded its Ambulatory Surgery Center Public Reporting Program, which offers more data on safety and quality measures.

Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, tells Chief Healthcare Executive® that she’s encouraged to see more health systems and surgery centers recognizing the need to be transparent with safety data.

Binder says hospitals are approaching transparency in safety data much differently than in the past.

“I think the hospital industry has changed permanently,” Binder says. “I think there is a recognition that transparency is important to our industry, and it is just a very significant shift.”

“Ten years ago, I think many hospitals felt that transparency was optional, and if for some reason they had an interest in transparency, they might get involved, and there were a few hospitals that wanted to, but it was not considered a centerpiece of their business. And I think that's changed. I think that's why we're seeing this very high level of participation,” she says.

Now, she says the healthcare industry is viewing transparency “as central to its role and its business.”

“It is because consumers expect that now,” Binder says. “We live in a digital world. AI is making that even more of a focus, and people expect transparency from hospitals, and so I think hospitals now recognize that, and they're responding to it.”

Hospital survey results come from hospitals who participated in Leapfrog’s 2026 hospital survey.

Aiming for more with ASCs

Ambulatory surgery center ratings reflect data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, accreditation information, and voluntary reporting.

“ASCs are still a relatively new phenomenon,” Binder says. “I think they're just starting the journey toward full transparency. What we see are a good number of ASCs voluntarily reporting to Leapfrog, many voluntarily submitting their accreditation certificates, which is important. But there are not by any means as many ASCs as hospitals that are voluntarily participating.”

Surgery centers don’t have the staffing that hospitals employ on quality reporting, and some don’t have as much data available digitally, she says.

Binder says she’s glad Leapfrog is offering some data on ambulatory surgery centers, including those that didn’t voluntarily submit data.

“We at least have the CMS data, which would give the public what they're looking for, and it gives purchasers what they're looking for too,” Binder says.

Leapfrog has expanded its reporting on ambulatory surgery centers. Binder says the move reflects the growth of surgery centers, with the majority of surgical procedures now being performed on an outpatient basis.

Increasingly, many patients are looking for procedures that won’t involve a hospital stay.

“I think most people don't want to have to stay in the hospital if they can avoid it overnight,” Binder says. “So it's a good trend as long as it's safe, and that is the big caveat. As long as it's safe, and I think ASCs and outpatient unit hospitals really need to step up and tell the public about their safety record and keep it improving.”

Pressure from purchasers

Employers and purchasers of health insurance have been pushing The Leapfrog Group to provide more data on ambulatory surgery centers, Binder says.

“They are very anxious to see how ASCs are doing,” Binder says. “They'd like to see this as a successful new way of delivering surgery. They want that to succeed. They see that as a potentially high quality, lower cost alternative for elective surgeries. However, they are really worried about the quality and safety, and they really need to see that data.”

“So at least now with this new public reporting program, we're able to offer them a little bit more data for a lot more ASCs, and hopefully ASCs will move more rapidly now toward giving us all of the data that we're asking them for,” she says.

Employers are hoping ambulatory surgery centers can offer a remedy to the rising costs of care. But Binder says they want to see more information on safety and quality.

“It has to be safe because there's no good price for bad care,” Binder says.

The Leapfrog Group has also unveiled a new Transparency Badge to recognize hospitals and surgery centers that are submitting all required data in Leapfrog surveys.

“We just wanted to congratulate those hospitals and ASCs that have been awarded the badge, and we hope they will take it to the marketplace,” Binder says. “I think the public responds very favorably to transparency, even when transparency doesn't show perfection, they respond extremely positively when there's transparency.”

Twice a year, in the spring and fall, The Leapfrog Group publishes its Hospital Safety Grades.

In the latest report in the spring, the group says hospitals have succeeded in reducing infections in their facilities, and they’ve also fared better in avoiding medication errors and preventing patient injuries from falls.