88 California Hospitals Receive Top Marks for Patient Safety

More than 770 hospitals across the U.S. -- including many in California -- are among the safest in the nation, according to recent ratings by the Leapfrog Group, Healthcare Finance News reports (Powderly, Healthcare Finance News, 10/28).

Details of Report

The Leapfrog Group's Hospital Safety Scores are released twice a year.

For the scores, the Leapfrog Group assigns letter grades -- "A," "B," "C," "D" or "F" -- based on hospitals' performance on 28 safety measures. The group used data from:

• The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality;
• The American Hospital Association's annual survey;
• CDC;
• CMS; and
• The Leapfrog Hospital Survey (California Healthline, 4/30).

National Findings

Since April, when the last report was released, 46% of hospitals across the U.S. changed their previous score by at least one letter grade -- for better or for worse (Rubenfire, Modern Healthcare, 10/28).

According to the latest report:

• 773 hospitals received an "A";
• 724 received a "B";
• 866 received a "C";
• 133 received a "D"; and
• 34 received an "F."

According to Leapfrog, hospitals across the U.S. on average have improved on eight safety measures, but declined on six measures, including foreign objects left inside patients after surgeries (Healthcare Finance News, 10/28).

California Findings

Of the 254 California hospitals graded by Leapfrog in the report:

• 88 received an "A";
• 68 received a "B";
• 70 received a "C";
• 23 received a "D"; and
• Five received an "F" (Leapfrog report, 10/28).

In comparison, 108 California hospitals received an "A" grade from Leapfrog in October 2014 (California Healthline, 10/30/14).

The five hospitals in the state that received failing scores in the latest report were:

• El Centro Regional Medical Center;
• Loma Linda University Medical Center in Murrieta;
• Lompoc Valley Medical Center;
• Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District in Brawley; and
• San Antonio Regional Hospital in Upland (Leapfrog report, 10/28).

Meanwhile, California ranked 11th for the highest percentage of hospitals receiving an "A" grade, at 34.6% (Leapfrog website, 10/28).