New Hospital Safety Scores Help Patients Find the Safest U.S. Hospitals

New data released today from The Leapfrog Group provides updated patient safety ratings for more than 2,500 general hospitals, helping consumers to make smarter choices in their personal health care. The Fall 2014 update to Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Score, which assigns A, B, C, D and F grades to hospitals based on their ability to prevent errors, injuries and infections, shows that while hospitals have made significant improvements when it comes to implementing processes of care and safe practices, performance on outcomes lags behind. Since April 2014, there’s been improvement on all 15 of Leapfrog’s “process” measures—such as hand hygiene and physician staffing in intensive care units. However, the data also points to a lack of progress on outcomes, with hospitals even declining on certain measures, such as preventing surgical site infections in patients who have undergone major colon surgery.

Access the latest Hospital Safety Scores online.

Updated Leapfrog Hospital Safety Scores: Not Much Improvement

The Leapfrog Group has issued its Fall 2013 update of hospital safety scores, which shows small gains at best since the last update in May.  “On average, there was no improvement in hospitals’ reported performance on the measures included in the score, with the exception of hospital adoption for computerized physician order entry,” the organization contends. “The expansion in adoption of this life-saving technology suggests that federal policy efforts to improve hospital technology have shown some success.”

In the new update, 813 of 2,539 hospitals that issued a Hospital Safety Score earned a grade of A, a rate of 32 percent compared with 31 percent in May. In the fall survey, 661 hospitals received a B grade, 893 got a C, 150 had a D and 22 flunked. Only 3.5 percent of the surveyed hospitals improved by two or more grade levels.

New Leapfrog Group Tool Helps Purchasers Calculate Cost of Hospital Errors

Slightly more than a year after the Leapfrog Group unveiled its letter grades for hospital safety, the employer-driven not-for-profit organization has introduced an online tool to help purchasers calculate the annual costs of hospital errors, accidents and infections. The hidden surcharge calculator, developed by a team of experts in patient safety, hospital finance, and policy, is designed to allow employers to determine how much they pay each year in unnecessary medical-related costs.

By inputting claims data and local hospital safety rankings, purchasers are able to calculate both the total surcharge for hospital errors and the average amount spent on errors per patient admission each year. Leapfrog estimates that a purchaser pays, on average, $7,780 in hidden surcharges when a patient is admitted to a hospital with a safety score of “C,” “D” or “F.” The calculator includes an example of an employer with 1,000 annual hospital admissions that would pay a $7.7 million surcharge for the year.

Several NBCH coalition members are Leapfrog Regional Rollout Leaders and active in publishing hospital safety data for use in their markets.

Updated Hospital Safety Scores from the Leapfrog Group

When it comes to patient safety, all hospitals and U.S. states aren't created equal, according to the newly updated Hospital Safety Score. The Spring 2013 update to the Hospital Safety Score that assigns "A," "B," "C," "D" or "F" grades to more than 2,500 general hospitals in the United States showed hospitals have made only incremental progress in addressing errors, accidents, injuries and infections that kill or hurt their patients. The Hospital Safety Score methodology was developed by a panel of patient safety experts from leading academic institutions and has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Journal of Patient Safety.

For more information on the recent scores...
Modern Healthcare: Grading Grievances
MSN Money: How Hospitals Score on Patient Safety
Los Angeles Times: California ranks 11th in hospitals with A grades for safety
Nurse.com: Leapfrog Group issues new hospital safety scores
Orlando Sentinel: Leapfrog health analysts hand out hospital grades 

 For additional highlights, please visit the What People Are Saying section of the Hospital Safety Score website.

The Leapfrog Group's Hospital Safety Score Updates

The latest update to the Hospital Safety Score, the A, B, C, D or F scores assigned to U.S. hospitals based on preventable medical errors, injuries, accidents, and infections, shows that hospitals are making some progress, but many still have a long way to go to reliably deliver safe health care. For the first time, the Hospital Safety Score now identifies “D” and “F” hospitals that represent the most hazardous environments for patients in need of care. The Hospital Safety Score - first released in June of 2012 - was compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety, and administered by the independent, national nonprofit organization The Leapfrog Group. This Hospital Safety Score update accounts for the data updated over the last six months, most covering hospital performance in 2011, and uses a modified methodology based on research and public comments.

Key Findings

• Of the 2618 general hospitals issued a Hospital Safety Score, 790 earned an “A,” 678 earned a “B,” 1004 earned a “C,” 121 earned a “D” and 25 earned an “F.”
• 58 percent of hospitals maintained the same grade level as they had in the scores issued in June. Another 34 percent of hospitals changed by one grade level (some higher, some lower). About eight percent of hospitals showed more dramatic change, moving two grade levels or more up or down.
• A wide range of hospitals earned “A’s,” with no one class of hospitals (i.e., teaching hospitals, public hospitals, etc.) dominating among those showing the highest safety scores. Hospitals earning an “A” include academic medical centers New York Presbyterian Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Mayo Clinic. Many rural hospitals earned an “A,” including Geisinger Medical Center and Blessing Hospital.
• Hospitals with myriad national accolades, such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Duke University Hospital, and Cleveland Clinic Florida each earned an “A.”
• “A” scores were also earned by hospitals serving highly vulnerable, impoverished, and/or health-challenged populations, such as Bellevue Hospital Center and Detroit Receiving Hospital.

While there are several other hospital ratings in the market – many of which use Leapfrog data for their calculations – the Hospital Safety Score is unique in that it is offered free to the public, along with a full analysis of the data and methodology used to calculate each individual hospital’s Hospital Safety Score. The Hospital Safety Score relies on the advice of the nation’s foremost patient safety experts, whose participation is a voluntary contribution to Leapfrog’s nonprofit mission.

NBCH member coalitions make up the majority of the Regional Roll-Out Leaders for Leapfrog.  These coalitions use the Hospital Safety Score in their communities to work with employers and other purchaser members on contracting, value-based purchasing, benefits design, and employee educational programs to spur safety improvements in our hospitals.

Health Leaders Media Compares Three Hospital Ranking Tools

The tools available to hospitals, medical professionals, and consumers for evaluating health care facilities on quality of care, safety, and other measures is growing. The U.S. government posts data on readmissions, mortality, and other measures on its Hospital Compare site. That data may be used by others to build their own ranking systems. In June, the Leapfrog Group introduced "Hospital Safety Score" which assigns letter grades based on safety metrics. (See materials from NBCH's June 19, 2012 All-Member Call.) In July, Consumer Reports' hospital safety ratings were rolled out.

To see how top hospitals measured up across three ratings systems, Health Leaders Media compares hospital safety scores from the Leapfrog Group and Consumer Reports alongside the overall rankings of U.S. News & World Report's 17 top-rated hospitals. As health care data transparency becomes more and more important for all stakeholders in the market, including regional coalitions, employers, and employees, being able to make the data actionable will be a key component to using it successfully to achieve better population health and lower costs.  Regional coalitions have an important role to play in navigating these different tools and topics to help put useful information into the hands of those who make decisions.

How safe is your hospital?

Approximately 400 people die every day because of hospital errors – the equivalent of a jet crashing every day and killing all aboard. In response to this silent epidemic, more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals will now receive an A, B, C, D or F Hospital Safety Score based on patient safety via a first-of-its-kind initiative.

A Blue Ribbon Panel of the nation’s top patient safety experts provided guidance to The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits, to develop the Hospital Safety Score. The Hospital Safety Score is calculated using publicly available data on patient injuries, medical and medication errors, and infections.

NBCH member coalitions make up the majority of the Regional Roll-Out Leaders for Leapfrog.

Coalitions will use the Hospital Safety Score in their communities to work with employers and other purchaser members on contracting, value-based purchasing, benefits design, and employee educational programs to spur safety improvements in our hospitals.