The Leapfrog Group on Oct. 31 announced the Fall 2016 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. The program assigns letters from A to F to the 2,633 hospitals in the United States twice a year, being the gold standard measure of patient safety across the country.
As a result of the evaluation, 844 hospitals were given "A," 658 were graded "B," 954 were graded "C," 157 were graded "D" and 20 were graded "F."
200,000 Americans Killed Annually
Safety breakdowns responsible for patient injuries, accidents and infections kill roughly 200,000 Americans every year, being the third leading cause of death in the country. The safety grade is calculated by the best safety experts in the United States, it is peer reviewed and entirely transparent, as well as free to the public.
The access also includes tips for patients, related videos and a mobile app for iOS and Android, all for the patients to stay informed. The platform's purpose is to give patients the possibility to look for the safest and more suitable hospitals for them and their families, offering essential information to base their decisions on.
How Hospitals In Different States Rank
Among the states with the most impressive improvements, North Carolina has evolved from the 19th place in the Spring 2013 issue to the fifth place in the fall. Idaho has moved up steadily for the last years, as well, from the 45th place in Spring 2013 to the second in Fall 2016.
There were also other states that recorded distinguished advances, such as Utah and Vermont, which were ranked number six and eight in this edition of the safety grade. However, the most impressive evolution is the one of Hawaii, the state managing to become the first in terms of hospital safety, for the first time.
At the opposite pole, there is Alaska, North Dakota, Washington D.C. and Delaware, none of which has any "A" graded hospital in this issue of the safety grade.
According to the report, patient care and health safety vary a lot across the United States, and the grading system compares the hospitals ranked "A" to the total number of hospitals in the state. There is a special situation for Maryland, which does not appear in the top, as the hospitals' representatives are not granted to share their hospital safety data to the larger public.
The Leapfrog Group is a nonprofit organization created in 2000, aiming to improve the quality and safety of health care, as well as to provide significant information to the patients who are involved in the system, through regular reports on the overall performance of each institution.
