Knoxville Orthopaedic Surgery Center earns Ambulatory Surgery Center national award
Submitted by Grant Mitchell
Published December 18 2023; 10:44 a.m.

In recognition of its quality and patient safety, Knoxville Orthopaedic Surgery Center earned the designation of a Leapfrog Top Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) in 2023, one of only 27 selected nationally for the competitive award.

This is the third year of Leapfrog’s Top ASC award, which honors top performers as verified by the Leapfrog ASC Survey. The award is presented by The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and purchasers widely acknowledged as the toughest standard-setters for health care safety and quality.

“At every level of personnel and process at Knoxville Orthopaedic Surgery Center (KOSC), we put our patients first and ensure our facilities go above and beyond in giving all patients the care they need,” said Douglas N. Calhoun, M.D., hand surgeon and medical director of KOSC. “Our selection for the third consecutive year as one of the top ambulatory surgery centers in the country lets us know we’re doing right by our patients and moving toward our goals on a daily basis.”

The quality of patient care across multiple areas of ASC performance is considered in identifying award winners, including staffing, patient experience, hand hygiene, surgical checklist protocols and error prevention.

A total of 27 ASCs across the United States were selected, representing:

• Nine states
- California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Tennessee

• Nine Specialties
- Gastroenterology, general surgery, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, orthopedic surgery, urology, neurological surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and plastic and reconstructive surgery.

The Leapfrog Top ASC Award is modeled after the prestigious Leapfrog Top Hospital award that started in 2006. Visit leapfroggroup.org/ratings-reports/top-ascs for the full list of institutions honored as 2023 Top ASCs.

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 for patient safety. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC 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, which helps consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. For more information, follow on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and sign up for the newsletter.

About OrthoTennessee/Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic
OrthoTennessee is the region’s largest provider of orthopaedic care and services, with more than 400,000 patient visits annually at 10 East Tennessee locations. One of four physician group divisions of OrthoTennessee, Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic (KOC) includes 38 physicians and has provided comprehensive subspecialized orthopaedic care in Knoxville and the surrounding counties for over 75 years. Entrusted with the care of injured University of Tennessee athletes, KOC has been the orthopaedic surgeons for the Vols since 1949. For more information, please visit kocortho.com and www.orthotn.com.