Local hospitals respond after new safety survey shows mixed grades

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Leapfrog, a non-profit group promoting safety in U.S. hospitals just published their fall safety grades.

The group looks at two main categories when grading—hospitals error prevention and how often mistakes like an infection after surgery actually occur.

“But what our grades are doing is focusing purely on patient safety,” said Alexandra Campione, Leapfrog’s safety grading program. “How are hospitals doing in preventing medication errors, infections, and those really dangerous patient safety events after surgery.”

The organization’s panel who does the grading is made up of experts across the country who specialize in patient’s safety.

“So we give A, B, C, D, and F letter grades based off of how safe the hospital has been,” said Campione.

St. Joseph Hospital scored an F on the survey and Candler Hospital not scoring much higher only earning a D.

WTOC spoke with St. Joseph’s/Candler CEO and President Paul Hinchey who said they don’t participate in the survey.

“It’s like getting extra credit for homework, if you want to fill out that and get extra credit to your score that you send in to the government, then you would join Leapfrog and you’d fill this out,” said Hinchey.

Leap Frog uses 32 public safety sources like CMS Medicare to help fill in the blanks.

Beaufort Memorial earned the highest grade out of the hospitals getting a B on the survey.

“We’re excited and happy to continue to make progress, but the job’s not done, right, because obviously, you know, every hospital wants to be an a hospital,” said Russell Baxley, President/CEO of Beaufort Memorial. “We received a B, right, we were happy with that because, to your point, we had improved scores across the board, but again, the work is not done, and our goal is this year and every year is to be an A-rated hospital with the Leapfrog group.”

Memorial Hospital in Savannah scored just average earning a C.

They provided WTOC with a statement on their thoughts on the recent survey:

Memorial Health is pleased to participate in the Leapfrog group’s hospital safety grade. We recognize the importance of measuring quality and safety in patient care and are proud of our dedicated physicians, nurses, and colleagues who provide our patients with exceptional care each day.

Memorial Hospital

Leapfrog says this survey is meant to inspire but also hold hospitals accountable for transparency about patient safety.