The “A” rating is the highest possible grade in patient safety.
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The Leapfrog Group’s highly anticipated biannual Hospital Safety Scores for Fall 2015 show almost half of the New Jersey hospitals that participated in the safety program performed at the highest level and received “A” grades. The first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the Journal of Patient Safety, the Score is created to give consumers information they can use to protect themselves and their families when facing a hospital stay.
Those whose grades slipped from a “B” to “C” include: AtlantiCare facilities in Atlantic County, Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May, Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, St. Luke’s Warren Campus in Phillipsburg, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, Newark Beth Israel Center, Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus and CentraState Healthcare System in Freehold.
“Consumers should use this data when making decisions about where to seek care for themselves and their families”, said Linda Schwimmer, CEO and president of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute.
“We are pleased to be recognized, once again by the Leapfrog Group, for providing the highest quality care to our patients. Our A-rating from Leapfrog now matches the great patient experience our doctors, nurses, and staff have been providing each and every day for a long time”. “These three “A” ratings are a validation of that effort”. “Patient safety requires constant vigilance, and we encourage CarePoint Health hospitals and all other A hospitals to continue demonstrating unrelenting commitment to patients by consistently providing a safe environment for care”. The score reflects Frankfort Regional’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable medical errors, injuries and infections within the hospital.
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 forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The scores are weighted as hospitals are compared with each other, so as quality improves, achieving an “A” becomes more hard. Grades were pretty evenly distributed in this release, with 31% of hospitals scoring an A, 29% scoring a B and 34% of hospitals scoring a C. Among the 2,530 hospitals that were graded, 133 got a D, and 34 were given an F. Due to an influx of new data, about 46% of hospitals changed at least one letter grade, according to Leapfrog.
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That’s up from five hospitals that scored A’s in The Leapfrog Group’s report six months earlier. Beckley (W. Va.) Hospital, an 170-bed facility that’s a part of the Appalachian Regional healthcare system went from a D score in April to an A in October, thanks to improvements in its computerized physician order entry system and better scores on falls and trauma, patient safety indicators and a rate of zero for central line infections, Leapfrog said. At CarePoint Health, all of our medical professionals emphasize preventive medicine and focus on educating patients to make healthy life choices.
