Leapfrog Gives 40% of California Hospitals Grades of C or Lower
About 40% of hospitals in California received a grade of C or lower in a national report card on patient safety released Wednesday by the Leapfrog Group, Kaiser Health News' "Capsules" reports (Rau, "Capsules," Kaiser Health News, 11/28).
Report Card Details
Leapfrog scored 2,618 hospitals nationwide based on 26 measures of publicly available data (Terhune, Los Angeles Times, 11/28).
The measures included data on:
- Adherence to recommended methods of care;
- Bedsores;
- Falls in the hospital; and
- Frequency of blood line infections.
National Grades
Nationwide, Leapfrog gave 490 hospitals an A grade.
It also gave:
- 678 hospitals a B grade;
- 1,004 hospitals a C grade;
- 122 hospitals a D grade; and
- 25 hospitals an F grade.
California Grades
In California, 98 hospitals out of the 246 scored by Leapfrog received grades of C or lower.
Leapfrog gave:
- 92 hospitals in the state an A grade;
- 56 hospitals a B grades;
- 80 hospitals a C grades;
- 14 hospitals a D grade; and
- Four hospitals an F grade ("Capsules," Kaiser Health News, 11/28).
A report card issued by Leapfrog in June gave 41% of California hospitals a grade of C or lower (California Healthline, 6/7).
Response From Hospitals
Tom Rosenthal -- chief medical officer at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, which received an F grade -- said, "UCLA is not an F hospital in quality and safety." He said the report card "is not a fair scoring system, and it does a disservice to the public."
The California Hospital Association has called on Leapfrog and other rating groups to provide more information about how their scores are calculated and to focus on reliable measures to assess patient care (Los Angeles Times, 11/28). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.