Photo By Catherine Myrick | Walter Reed National Military Medical Center celebrates receiving the Leapfrog...... read more read more
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Walter Reed National Military Medical Center recently earned the Leapfrog Group’s Full Transparency Badge for completing and submitting all portions of its annual hospital survey. Initiated in 2018, the survey is a wide-ranging evaluation of how participating hospitals and surgery centers are managing patient care and safety, resources and clinical quality. The survey covers nine sections broken down into areas such as patient rights and ethics, high-risk surgeries, maternity, staffing, pediatric care and other critical hospital operations.
Founded in 2000, the Leapfrog Group is an independent organization that advocates for healthcare transparency and patient safety in the United States. Its primary focus is collecting healthcare data and making it publicly available to encourage hospitals and clinics to implement and increase safety standards. The group does this through two programs — the Hospital Safety Grade and the Leapfrog Survey.
“The whole purpose of Leapfrog is to help our patients make informed decisions by providing them with this publicly available data,” said Minna Kabteyimer, Walter Reed’s Leapfrog program manager. “Anybody who knows about Leapfrog can look at that data and make that important decision to come to our hospital because they feel safe, especially if they have a choice in medical facilities.”
For Kabteyimer, the motivation behind Walter Reed’s commitment to the survey hinges on building relations with its patients.
“I think it helps our patients trust us,” Kabteyimer said. “When you’re a patient, that’s when you’re in your most vulnerable state. So, to be able to build that trusting relationship, I think that’s a big deal. That’s what I love about it.”
The Department of War currently operates the Military Health System, one of the largest healthcare (one word) systems in the world, which is overseen by the Defense Health Agency. Recognizing Leapfrog’s status as the primary nonprofit organization working to improve healthcare delivery and patient safety, the DHA began working with Leapfrog in 2018. In fact, Walter Reed was the first MHS facility to participate in the Leapfrog hospital survey. While not every MHS facility qualifies to participate in the hospital grading system or the survey, they are all required to hold themselves to Leapfrog’s rigorous safety standards.
In addition to receiving the Full Transparency Badge for completing all portions of the hospital survey, Walter Reed has been designated a “Straight A” hospital for receiving an “A” from Leapfrog for the past five review periods. Based on 30 performance measures, the Hospital Safety Grade is awarded in the spring and fall. Leapfrog assesses consistency and standards in areas of processes and structural measures, such as medication safety, ICU physician staffing, safe practices like hand washing and the patient experience, which amounts to 50 percent of the grade. The other half includes outcome measurement, examining statistics for healthcare associated infections, surgical complications and general safety failures.
“Even though we are receiving A’s, there are always opportunities for us to keep working every single day to provide the best care for our patients,” Kabteyimer said. “We review our survey scores and our safety grade results and find where we can improve. We work with leadership, the providers, the coders and the front-line staff. It’s just eye-opening and makes you look at the whole picture of the organization and everyone’s willingness to participate. I think that’s the beauty of the survey — it touches all areas.”
Walter Reed’s consistent positive ratings from Leapfrog reflect the hospital’s commitment to patient safety and clinical quality. Through continuous improvements, staff training and rigorous safety protocols, Walter Reed focuses on providing the nation’s service members and their beneficiaries with world-class health care.
“I am very thankful for the entire Walter Reed team,” Kabteyimer said. “Whenever we ask something for the survey or the hospital grade, they jump on it, even though it’s additional work they must do. I believe that’s the reason for all these achievements. It doesn’t mean it’s always perfect, but we put together a plan of action and we go after it. Let this recognition serve as both a celebration of what we have achieved and a reminder of the standards we have set for ourselves.”
| Date Taken: | 08.06.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 08.06.2026 15:55 |
| Story ID: | 571773 |
| Location: | BETHESDA, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Clear care: Walter Reed receives recognition for full transparency, by Christopher Smith, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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