LONG BRANCH, NJ, December 4, 2018 – Highlighting its nationally recognized achievements in patient safety and quality, Monmouth Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, was named a Top Teaching Hospital by The Leapfrog Group for the second time. Announced today, 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, an independent hospital watchdog organization. 
Among thousands of hospitals in the country, Monmouth Medical Center was one of only 53 hospitals recognized as a Top Teaching Hospital. The Top Hospital Award comes following Monmouth Medical Center’s eighth consecutive “A” Hospital Safety Grade, also from the Leapfrog Group.
“This impressive achievement is a testament to the dedication of our highly skilled physicians, residents, nurses and staff and their commitment to providing the highest quality patient-centered care in the safest environment,” said Bill Arnold, President and CEO of Monmouth Medical Center. “Monmouth Medical Center has a long history as a teaching hospital and our respected reputation as a university-level medical center attracts the top physicians to our teaching faculty. Our resident physicians and medical students are an integral part of this collaborative approach to achieving superior safety and quality.”
Monmouth serves as a regional medical campus of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to teach third and fourth year medical students. It is a member of the Council of Teaching Hospitals of the Association of American Medical Colleges, a status held by only 400 of the nation’s 6,000 hospitals, and trains residents and fellows in Dental Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Pathology, Pediatrics, Pharmacy, Diagnostic Radiology and General Surgery
Performance across many areas of hospital care is considered in establishing the qualifications for the award, including infection rates, maternity care, and the hospital’s capacity to prevent medication errors. The rigorous standards are defined in each year’s Top Hospital Methodology.
“Being acknowledged as a Top Hospital is an incredible feat achieved by less than six percent of eligible hospitals nationwide,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “With this honor, Monmouth Medical Center has established its commitment to safer and higher quality care. Providing this level of care to patients in Long Branch and its surrounding communities requires motivation and drive from every team member. I congratulate the board, staff and clinicians, whose efforts made this honor possible.”
To qualify for the Top Hospitals distinction, hospitals must submit a Leapfrog Hospital Survey and achieve the highest performance scores in its category. The selection of Top Hospitals 2018 is based on surveys from nearly 1,900 hospitals. To see the full list of institutions honored as 2018 Top Hospitals, visit www.leapfroggroup.org/tophospitals.
About Monmouth Medical Center
Located in Long Branch, N.J., Monmouth Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, along with The Unterberg Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, is one of New Jersey's largest academic medical centers. From its earliest days, Monmouth Medical Center has been a leader in surgical advancement and has introduced many technological firsts to the region, including robotic surgery and other minimally invasive techniques. Monmouth Medical Center is the only hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties to consistently receive an “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit organization of employer purchasers of health care and the nation’s leading experts on patient safety. It is one of eight New Jersey hospitals to receive a four-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the highest hospital rating in the state.
About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.