Last spring, the scores showed that urban hospitals as a whole performed better in safety than rural hospitals, and that many hospitals continue to struggle to control hospital-acquired infections, FierceHealthcare previously reported.
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Two Alabama hospitals received F grades: Riverview Regional Medical Center in Gadsden and Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan.
The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading patient safety experts and administered by The Leapfrog Group, a national, independent nonprofit. The weighted score for each hospital is then translated into a letter grade. Statewide, 92 of 163 hospitals, or 56 percent, earned As.
The scores ranked 2,530 hospitals of all sizes.
Maine had the highest percentage of hospitals scoring an A, at 69 percent, according to the announcement.
The most grade changes occurred among the 18 hospitals scored in Miami-Dade County. But it received ideal scores in other categories, including staffing and standard safety procedures.
The straight-A hospitals for all eight report cards are Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, Jersey City Medical Center, Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, Saint Clare’s Hospital in Denville and Dover, and JFK Medical Center in Edison. “That’s a huge ask…only about 5% of hospitals achieve that and we’d love to see more, because consistency is one of the most important things”, said Jillian Laffrey, senior communications and membership coordinator for Leapfrog. Across the board, hospitals are performing worse on critical measures like foreign objects left in after surgery as well as falls and trauma, postoperative respiratory failure and prevention of ventilator associated complications. Consumers can also download the free Hospital Safety Score mobile app for Apple and Android devices. Florida Hospital North Pinellas has been nationally recognized by the American Heart Association, the American Stroke Association, The Joint Commission, and The Leapfrog Group, for excellence in providing quality patient care. “From the doctors and nurses to administrative and support staff, we consider it everyone’s responsibility to strive for the highest levels of quality and patient safety”. “There is no place for complacency, and we embrace the concept of continuous quality improvement, where our efforts are always directed towards finding opportunities to improve our processes and provide exceptional care to all patients”.
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Jackson’s scores might cause her to ask more questions as a patient, but they wouldn’t persuade her not to use the hospital, she said. “We have an embarrassment of riches in that all [hospitals] do the best they can every day, every way to keep people safe and give them the best medical care”.
