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Perspectives

Navigating the 2025 Leapfrog Survey Changes

Professional lifestyle headshot of Mike Lipscomb. He has a warm smile, wearing a black blazer over a light blue button-down shirt. and gold tie.

Michael Lipscomb, MD, Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer

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The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Survey for 2025 incorporates several notable updates to reflect evolving standards in hospital safety. The changes impact various areas including:

  • Cybersecurity and Natural Events: Hospitals now report incidents directly to the Leapfrog Help Desk, with potential safety grade footnotes for limited data.
  • Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA): Clarifies unit types and expectations for scanner back-up use.
  • Hospital and Surgeon Volume: Updates include new ICD-10 codes for bariatric surgery and stricter reporting standards for mitral valve procedures.
  • Maternity Care Process Quality Measures: Refines DVT prophylaxis timing and plans 2026 removal of certain patients from inclusion criteria.
  • Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Physician Staffing: Now scores adult and pediatric ICU staffing separately.
  • Procedure Volume: Reinstates select eye and breast surgery codes based on provider feedback.
  • Public Reporting and Transparency: Expanded emphasis on making volume and safety data publicly accessible.

One area of high interest for Emergency Department operators includes:

Hospital Boarding in the Emergency Department

Leapfrog plans to grow its reporting to include ED safety. While not scored in 2025, hospitals will be asked to report median emergency department length of stay, 90th percentile ED length of stay for admitted patients, and the percentage with boarding times over four hours.

The inclusion of hospital boarding data in Leapfrog’s 2025 survey underscores growing recognition of emergency department boarding as a significant patient safety and quality issue. Boarding—when admitted patients remain in the ED awaiting inpatient beds—can negatively affect patient outcomes by delaying critical inpatient treatments, increasing the risk of medical errors, and reducing overall patient satisfaction. Tracking metrics such as median ED length of stay, 90th percentile ED length of stay for admitted patients, and the percentage boarding over four hours will offer hospitals valuable benchmarks.

 

For full detail on the 2025 changes, click here!

“Ultimately, the enhancements will encourage health systems to optimize inpatient throughput, enhance ED capacity management and prioritize patient safety and timely care.”

Professional lifestyle headshot of Mike Lipscomb. He has a warm smile, wearing a black blazer over a light blue button-down shirt. and gold tie.

Michael Lipscomb, MD

Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer