The Leapfrog Group Announces Spring 2024 Hospital Safety Grades

The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit driving a movement for patient safety, today released its Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, assigning an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” to nearly 3,000 general hospitals on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections. Nationally, patient experience—a set of measures using patient-reported perspectives on hospital care—indicates significant signs of improvement since the fall 2023 Safety Grades, and preventable health care-associated infections show a sustained drop after unprecedented rates during the height of the pandemic.

For the first time, Leapfrog has ranked metro areas in addition to states based on percentage of “A” hospitals. Health Action Council is a Leapfrog regional leader for Minnesota, Ohio, and Oregon. In Minnesota, 10 hospitals received an “A” grade, 14 hospitals received a “B” grade, 17 hospitals earned a “C” grade, and four hospitals received a “D” grade. In Ohio, 23 hospitals earned an “A” grade, 35 hospitals earned a “B” grade, 55 hospitals received a “C” grade, and two hospitals earned a “D” grade. In Oregon, seven hospitals earned an “A” grade, seven hospitals earned a “B” grade, and 19 hospitals earned a “C” grade. View State and Metropolitan Rankings.

“The Hospital Safety Grade empowers patients to choose the safest hospitals in their area and find the right health care,” said Patty Starr, President & CEO of Health Action Council. “When hospitals are dedicated to transparent reporting and patient safety, they save lives. Health Action Council and our members stand with Leapfrog and the work they are doing to protect patients from preventable harms.”

Patient experience is measured through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) uses to publicly report patients' perspectives of hospital care

Of the over 30 measures used to generate Hospital Safety Grades, The Leapfrog Group reports on five patient experience measures that have a direct impact on patient safety outcomes:

• Nurse communication
• Doctor communication
• Hospital staff responsiveness
• Communication about medicines
• Discharge information

"Ranking metro areas for the first time is exciting because it provides us more information about collective hospital safety on a local level,” said President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group Leah Binder. We are grateful to the hospitals in for their excellent work and determination to keep patients safe and prevent unnecessary pain and suffering.”

The latest Hospital Safety Grades also show that healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) continue to decline since fall 2022, when HAIs were at a five-year high, while patient experience has shown significant improvement since the last Safety Grade cycle in fall 2023.

Learn more about the Scoring Methodology and Frequently Asked Questions for the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.

About Health Action Council
Health Action Council is a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) organization representing mid and large-size employers that enhances human and economic health through thought leadership, innovative services, and collaboration. It provides value to its members by facilitating projects that improve the quality and moderate the cost of healthcare purchased by its members for their employees, dependents, and retirees. Health Action Council also collaborates with key stakeholders - health plans, physicians, hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry - to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare in the community.

About Leapfrog
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps for patient safety. Among its initiatives, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade was launched in 2012 and assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. It is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm to patients. It is fully transparent and free to the public, and grades are updated biannually in the fall and in the spring. To look up your hospital’s Safety Grade, please visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org. For more from Leapfrog, follow on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram and sign up for the newsletter.