Rating given to only 52 general hospitals across the nation
SOMERS POINT — Shore Medical Center has been named a “Top Hospital” by the Leapfrog Group, which rates standards at the nation’s hospitals.
The award was announced Monday, Dec. 15.
Shore was one of only 52 general hospitals nationwide to receive the honor and one of only three in New Jersey.
“This year marks Leapfrog’s 25th anniversary — and the 25th year of the Leapfrog Hospital Survey — making it especially meaningful to recognize our 2025 Top Hospitals and Top ASCs,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a release about the award. “These honorees are a testament to the extraordinary dedication of these facilities’ entire teams, boards, clinicians, administrators, staff and community volunteers. You don’t achieve results like this without everyone putting their heart into patient care.”
“Being named a Top General Hospital by The Leapfrog Group is a tremendous honor, and we could not be prouder of everyone at Shore Medical Center,” said David Hughes, president and chief executive officer. “After earning an ‘A’ grade for quality and safety in both the spring and fall, this Top Hospital designation further demonstrates our staff’s dedication to providing the safest, highest-quality experience for our patients.”
RELATED STORY: Shore gets second consecutive ‘A’ Safety Rating
The award “upholds our overall excellence here at Shore. It is a prestigious award,” said Valerie M. DeJoseph, MS, RVT, RDMS, administrative director of Quality, Medical Staff Services & Regulatory at Shore Medical Center. “It shows that we’re sustaining the data and we meet and go above expectations of other hospitals. It’s very competitive to get this Top Hospital award.
“It’s an ongoing commitment and we are extremely proud of this. I’m just ecstatic,” DeJoseph continued. “Our whole hospital is praised for what we have sustained for this organization, for our patients and for each other, and the respect for each other.”
“It is just so exciting,” said Kathleen Biancorosso, MBA, administrative director of Patient Experience at Shore Medical Center. “Our culture here starts with orientation. Our executive team comes to orientation on that day and says exactly what we need to do.
“Our culture is to help one another. We make sure that everyone is doing the right thing always,” Biancorosso said. “This award is just proof that we are so focused on patient-centered care and making sure that the outcomes of the patients is our top priority, with safety, and making sure that everything that we do from start to finish is consistent across the board.”
The rating criteria
For the top hospital rating, the Leapfrog Group rates general hospitals on nine criteria:
— Meeting standards on all Leapfrog’s 46 measures;
— Having an A grade in Leapfrog Hospital Safety (Shore has earned two consecutive A grades in the past two reporting periods);
— Demonstrating that it embodies the highest standards of excellence;
— Computerized physical order entry (for inpatient medication orders);
— Adult ICU Physician Staffing Standard (that patients are managed by physicians board certified in critical care medicine);
— Never Events Policy Standard (regarding serious reportable events);
— Billing Ethics Standard (providing bills in a timely manner and providing payment plans, ability to investigate errors and support from billing representatives);
— Informed Consent Standards (ensuring patients can understand them);
— Adult and Pediatric Complex Surgery Standards (ensuring hospitals meet minimum surgeon standards and experience with multiple serious surgeries from heart and cancer surgery to bariatric and knee replacement surgery).
Value to community
“For a community hospital like ours to be recognized among the nation’s best is an extraordinary accomplishment that reflects our culture and unwavering commitment to those we serve,” Hughes said.
“Being a community hospital, (the award) just shows the community how hard everyone in the organization has worked and is working and continues to work,” Biancorosso said. “Being a smaller community hospital and getting this and going against larger hospitals is something that we are proud of and that the community should be proud of because it’s very, very, very competitive. It shows that it’s everyone’s work.”
“It’s a national recognition and it’s based on 2,400 hospitals that are considered for this award,” DeJoseph said. “Shore Medical Center is one of the 52 general hospitals that are part of this national award. We’re the only hospital in Atlantic County, Cape May County and the region that has been awarded this top recognition. It’s very competitive and we’re very proud of it.”
The other two general hospitals in New Jersey that earned the award are Hackensack Meridian Pascack Valley Medical Center and Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, both in Bergen County.
DeJoseph pointed out that Shore was recognized in 2024 by Leapfrog as a leader in diabetes care and helping patients through the process. That is a factor in the Top Hospital designation, she added, including having distinctions for such things as hip and knee replacements and overall regulatory procedures for the entire hospital.
“That all incorporates into being a top hospital. That’s very important,” she said. “You have to meet every one of these initiatives to pull that top hospital award.”
“It comes down to that we’re the best of our peers,” Biancorosso added.
In addition to the top general hospitals, Leapfrog named 15 Top Children’s Hospitals, 16 Top Rural Hospitals and 73 Top Teaching Hospitals.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
