Nine Things to Know Jump Out of Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade Report

By Clive Riddle, April 27, 2018 In May talk of frogs would lead one to the annual Calaveras Jumping Frog Jubilee (check out www.frogtown.com). But in April, talk of frogs leads one to The Leapfrog Group, who just released the spring 2018 edition of the Leapfrog biannual  Hospital Safety Grades. Leapfrog tells us their “grading assigns “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” and “F” letter grades to general acute-care hospitals in the U.S., and is the nation’s only rating focused entirely on errors, accidents, injuries and infections that collectively are the third leading cause of death in the United States.” Here’s nine things to know from the Leapfrog report card results they have shared: 1.     Five “A” hospitals receiving this grade for the very first time this spring had an “F” grade in the past 2.     46 hospitals have achieved an “A” for the first time since the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade began six years ago 3.     89 hospitals receiving an “A” at one point had received a “D” or “F” 4.     Of the approximately 2,500 hospitals graded, 30 percent earned an “A,” 28 percent earned a “B,” 35 percent a “C,” six percent a “D” and one percent an “F” 5.     The five states with the highest percentage of “A” hospitals this spring are Hawaii, Idaho, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia 6.     Rhode Island, Hawaii, Wisconsin, and Idaho once ranked near the bottom of the state rankings of percentage of “A” hospitals but now rank in the top ten 7.     Hospitals with “F” grades are located in California, Washington, D.C., Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York 8.     There are no “A” hospitals in Alaska, Delaware or North Dakota 9.     Impressively, 49 hospitals nationwide have achieved an “A” in every grading update since the launch of the Safety Grade in spring 2012 In addition to staterankings, you can search for specific hospital safety results at their webaite: http://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org