The Leapfrog Group and Money last month released their first-ever list of the "Best Hospitals for Bariatric Surgery," recognizing 101 hospitals that excel at performing "one of the most difficult surgeries."

How the list was made

For the list, the Leapfrog Group partnered with Money to analyze data submitted to the 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which was completed by over 2,200 hospitals last year.

To be included in the list, eligible hospitals had to carry an A or B letter grade on the 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade assessment. In addition, they were required to meet four criteria specific to bariatric surgery, which included:

1. Meet Leapfrog's standard for bariatric surgery

Leapfrog and its national expert panel placed bariatric surgery for weight loss among 11 high-risk procedures. There are multiple types of bariatric surgery for weight loss, including gastric sleeve surgery, gastric bypass, and lap band surgery.

For bariatric surgery for weight loss, Leapfrog's standard measures whether a hospital's yearly volume of bariatric surgeries meets or exceeds a minimum standard of 50 and whether the hospital's privileging process includes the surgeon meeting or exceeding Leapfrog's minimum surgeon volume standard of 20.

In addition, hospitals reported on whether they implement protocols to ensure that the procedure is not performed needlessly on patients who do not stand to benefit.

2. Meet Leapfrog's standards for a safe surgery checklist

To evaluate a hospital's safe surgery checklist, Leapfrog measures the extent to which a facility implements a safe surgery checklist. They look at whether the checklist is documented and used on all patients undergoing an applicable procedure.

In particular, hospitals achieving Leapfrog's standard must:

• Use a safe surgery checklist on all patients undergoing an applicable procedure
• Create a checklist that includes all elements of the safe surgery checklist, and ensure that these elements are explained in the presence of all required personnel
• Conduct an audit of at least 15 patients
• Document compliance to the checklist for at least 90% of the patients included in the audit

3. Have fewer HAIs than expected

Hospitals were required to have fewer central-line associated blood stream infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections. However, this requirement did not apply to hospitals that were not able to calculate a standardized infection ratio.

To assess healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), Leapfrog uses a standardized infection ratio that compares the number of infections that occurred at the hospital to the number of infections expected for the hospital —an estimate based on factors like the number of central lines or catheters used, facility type, and facility size. If a hospital received a number lower than one, they had fewer infections than expected.

4. Receive an A or B letter grade on Leapfrog's latest 'Hospital Safety Grade'

For hospitals that were eligible for a Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a letter grade of A or B was required to be included on the list.

However, this requirement did not apply to facilities that were not eligible for a safety grade, including pediatric hospitals, military treatment facilities, specialty facilities, and critical access hospitals.

"Bariatric surgery is a complex procedure that over half a million people undergo annually across the world. Certain hospitals are safer than others for this procedure, and thanks to Money, patients have important data to make an informed decision," said Leapfrog president and CEO Leah Binder.

"This new list features one-of-a-kind selections that gives readers an excellent look at one of the most difficult surgeries to perform," added Money's Executive Editor Mike Ayers.

Read the full list here.

(Bean, Becker's Hospital Review, 2/8; Money news release, 1/30; Best Hospitals for Bariatric Surgery methodology, 1/30)