The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit healthcare ratings organization, released new Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades to general acute-care hospitals in the nation. St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago was one of 750 hospitals to be awarded the organization’s highest grade, an ‘A,’ in patient safety for the spring of 2018. The Hospital Safety grades, ranging from A to F, rate a hospital’s performance twice-a-year in preventing medical errors, injuries, infections and other harms among patients in their care.
“The ‘A’ grade is recognized in the healthcare industry as the gold standard for patient safety,” said Leo Correa, CEO. “Because safe, high-quality patient care is a priority of St. Catherine Hospital, the Leapfrog Group rating reflects our longstanding commitment to keep our patients in the forefront and best practices in place for exceptional treatment outcomes.”
Impressively, St. Catherine Hospital has achieved the ‘A’ grade in Fall 2017 and in 10 consecutive Leapfrog coring updates since the patient safety measures began.
Receiving an ‘A’ safety grade means a hospital is among the best in the country for preventing problems and putting their patients first, 24 hours a day, said Leah Binder, president and CEO of the Washington, DC-based Leapfrog Group.
Developed under the guidance of a Blue Ribbon National Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to approximately 2,500 U.S. hospitals twice per year. The measure is peer reviewed, transparent and free to the public. The Leapfrog Group says it has seen a 21 percent decline in hospital-acquired conditions, improved functionality of computerized physician order entry systems at hospitals and averted millions of patient harms since the bi-annual rating program began.
To see St. Catherine Hospital’s full grade details, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.
