ORANGE PARK – HCA Healthcare’s Orange Park Medical Center has earned national recognition as a Top Teaching Hospital by The Leapfrog Group. The award is given for achievements in patient safety and quality. The Leapfrog Top Teaching Hospital award is widely acknowledged as one of the most competitive awards American hospitals can receive. The designation is bestowed by The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers recognized as the toughest standard-setters for health care safety and quality.

The Graduate Medical Education Program at Orange Park Medical Center began in 2015 and has grown significantly. The program is comprised of 10 training programs with 154 residents and fellows, and the hospital will be welcoming 63 more physicians next summer.

“I’ve had the pleasure of being part of this program for the past four years,” said Dr. Nilmarie Guzman, Orange Park Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency Program Director and Infection Control Chair for the hospital. "I’m incredibly proud of the bright and dedicated residents and fellows we’ve seen progress through our programs.”

More than 2,200 hospitals were considered for The Leapfrog Group’s Top Hospital awards in the categories of children’s, general, rural, and teaching hospitals. Among those, Orange Park Medical Center received the Top Teaching distinction. A total of 149 top hospitals nationwide were selected as Top Hospitals.

The quality of patient care across many areas of hospital performance is considered in establishing the qualifications for the award, including infection rates, surgery, maternity care, and the hospital’s capacity to prevent medication and other errors. The rigorous standards are defined in each year’s Top Teaching Hospital Methodology.

“We are pleased to recognize Orange Park Medical Center as a Top Hospital this year,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Even with the continued strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, Orange Park Medical Center has demonstrated an extraordinary dedication to excellent health care in the Clay County community. We congratulate the board, leadership, staff and clinicians who put their patients first.”

HCA Healthcare has more than 300 residency and fellowship programs at 61 teaching hospitals throughout the country. Orange Park Medical Center’s graduate medical education program includes 10 of those programs including include Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Dermatology, General Surgery and Emergency Medicine, Cardiology Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Hematology/Oncology and transitional year, a program that focuses on subspecialties.

To qualify for the Top Hospitals distinction, hospitals must rank top among peers on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which assesses hospital performance on the highest standards for quality and patient safety.