Oct. 23, 2026 | By Bernard Little, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
At Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, healthcare quality is a daily priority that supports patient safety, readiness, and positive outcomes for Military Health System beneficiaries. Walter Reed staff members focus daily on protecting those who protect the nation, and their work reflects the hospital’s mission of “one team optimizing health, safety, and readiness for our nation’s past, present, and future heroes.”
This commitment to healthcare quality and readiness is evidenced by the fact that Walter Reed is one of only three military hospitals that has earned consecutive A grades from The Leapfrog Group for the past five safety-grading cycles. Leapfrog is an independent nonprofit watchdog organization that evaluates participating hospitals nationwide on safety and prevention measures. The group assesses hospitals and healthcare organizations, who voluntarily participate in the evaluations, on standards pertaining to the prevention of medical errors, injuries, and infections. Leapfrog assigns grades, A to F, twice a year, fall and spring, to the participating facilities.
Walter Reed’s high performances in Leapfrog evaluations highlight the daily behind-the-scenes efforts that make the medical center the flagship of military medicine.
To maintain this high standard, medical teams at Walter Reed conduct daily-tiered huddles, or communication meetings among providers and staff to share, elevate and solve operational safety concerns, measures and benchmarks, explained Bernadette Naquin, Chief of Quality in the Directorate of Quality at WRNMMC. “These huddles ensure we maintain situational awareness and a sensitivity to operations to effectively react to situations that may unfold in an unexpected way,” Naquin said. This is essential to healthcare quality, she added.
Naquin explained that teamwork is essential to ensuring that safe, presidential care is always delivered at Walter Reed, sharing that “a robust team of infection prevention nurses,” in addition to a Falls Champions committee, contribute to this effort. The committee works to review the hospital’s falls data and implement evidence-based practices to prevent future incidents.
“Our patient safety program supports readiness by working to ensure we have both a ready medical force and a medically-ready force. We do this by following the principles of high reliability, constantly working to achieve top outcomes,” Naquin said. “This work includes improving standardization and reducing variability; mitigating errors to achieve zero harm; celebrating transparency and accountability; and valuing the contributions of all individuals regardless of rank.”
“Through continuous education and listening closely to staff and patient feedback, Walter Reed ensures our healthcare matches the highest benchmarks in the medical field,” said Naquin. “Walter Reed commits to providing the safest, highest quality care through its support of the Department of War’s Patient Safety program. The goal of the program is to achieve zero preventable harm and provide patient-centered, evidence-based care to improve patient outcomes.”
She added Walter Reed’s Patient Safety program has four guiding principles:
- Encouraging a standardized systems approach across the military treatment facility to create a safer patient environment.
- Fostering a culture of safety, trust and transparency through communication, care coordination, and teamwork.
- Facilitating timely and accurate reporting and analysis of near misses, unsafe conditions, and adverse patient safety events.
- Supporting Ready Reliable Care principles to promote a patient safety culture.
“We work towards standardizing evidence-based successful practices to ensure that we can return to those when the unexpected happens. We work to ensure we have the correct safety precautions for each patient, always focusing on healthcare quality,” she said.
Every third full week in October, Walter Reed joins other hospitals and healthcare organizations across the nation in celebrating Healthcare Quality Week to recognize its ongoing commitment to providing presidential care to each patient served. The annual observance is dedicated to highlighting the daily critical work of healthcare quality professionals and their ongoing commitment to patient safety. Healthcare Quality Week shines a spotlight on these behind-the-scenes efforts that make Walter Reed the flagship of military medicine.
