Several hospitals in Maryland received top grades for safety, while others didn’t quite measure up, according to new spring 2020 ratings released by the Leapfrog Group recently.
Safety grades are released by the nonprofit organization twice per year, in the spring and the fall. The ratings of more than 2,600 hospitals focus on accidents, injuries and infections, and help to assess how well a facility prevents medical errors and other harm to patients.
It’s worth noting the metrics used to determine this spring’s hospital grades originated from safety data reported for periods ending in 2018 and 2019. The report does not take into account the strain the new COVID-19 outbreak is placing on some hospitals where staff are experiencing shortages of drugs and protection equipment.
In Maryland:
- 12 hospitals received an A grade
- 15 hospitals received a B grade
- 14 hospitals received a C grade
- 2 hospitals received a D grade
- 1 hospital received an F grade
The latest grades show 33 percent of hospitals nationwide earned an “A” grade while 25 percent earned a “B.” Some 35 percent earned a “C” grade, 7 percent a “D” and less than 1 percent received an “F” grade.
Here are the Leapfrog Group’s spring 2020 grades for hospitals in Maryland:
Grade “A”
- Anne Arundel Medical Center, Annapolis
- Garrett Regional Medical Center, Oakland
- Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Baltimore
- Holy Cross Germantown Hospital, Germantown
- Howard County General Hospital, Columbia
- Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore
- MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital, Baltimore
- MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital, Leonardtown
- Suburban Hospital, Bethesda
- UM Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Glen Burnie
- University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus, Baltimore
- University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, Towson
Grade “B”
- Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, Rockville
- Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center, Silver Spring
- Atlantic General Hospital, Berlin
- Carroll Hospital Center, Westminster
- Doctors Community Hospital, Lanham
- Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring
- MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, Baltimor
- Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore
- Peninsula Regional Medical Center, Salisbury
- St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore
- The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
- University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center, La Plata
- University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Chestertown, Chestertown
- University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Dorchester, Cambridge
- University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton, Easton
Grade “C”
- Adventist HealthCare Fort Washington Medical Center, Fort Washington
- CalvertHealth Medical Center, Prince Frederick
- Frederick Health Hospital, Frederick
- MedStar Harbor Hospital, Baltimore
- MedStar Montgomery Medical Center, Olney
- MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center, Clinton
- MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore
- Meritus Medical Center, Hagerstown
- Northwest Hospital, Randallstown
- Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Baltimore
- Union Hospital, Elkton
- University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore
- University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, Bel Air
- UPMC Western Maryland, Cumberland
Grade “D”
- UM Harford Memorial Hospital, Havre De Grace
- University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center, Cheverly
Grade “F”
- Bon Secours Hospital, Baltimore
To determine each state’s grade, Leapfrog used up to 28 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources. When averaged, performance measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.
The goal of the Hospital Safety Grade is to reduce deaths caused by hospital errors and injuries.
Leapfrog estimates that if the risk at all hospitals was equivalent to what it is at “A” hospitals, 50,000 lives at other facilities would have been saved. Overall, the researchers estimate that 160,000 lives are lost every year due to avoidable medical errors. That figure is down from 2016, when the Leapfrog Group estimated there were 205,000 avoidable deaths.
For a full description of the methodology, go here.
To see the story by Deb Belt as it originally appeared on Patch.com, click here.
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