Grades, which are available for public review, designed to help consumers in choosing facilities
Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) has received another A for its patient care — this time, in the Fall 2022 Hospital Safety report cards released recently by the Leapfrog Group, the health care system has announced.
“The national distinction recognizes the Sarasota hospital for its continuous achievements in protecting hospitalized patients from medical errors and preventable harm,” a news release explains. Further, “The latest grades provide a continuing look at the impact of COVID-19 on patient safety in nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide, as well as a new focus on a decade of patient safety initiatives demonstrated by the nation’s hospitals,” the release adds.
“Sarasota Memorial is the only hospital in the region that has maintained a straight-A streak since 2016,” the release notes.
Many hospitals that received lower scores in the pandemic-era timeframe, “reflecting how patient care worsened” as a result of strains on the health care system and workforce, improved during the latest grading period, the release points out.
“The past three years have been very challenging, with the pandemic, labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and Hurricane Ian, which impacted so many people in our region, but through every challenge and obstacle, our physicians and staff demonstrated their resourcefulness, resiliency and unwavering dedication to care for this community,” said Sarasota Memorial Health Care System CEO David Verinder in the release. “This award is a reflection of their commitment, quality service and personal sacrifice.”
Among the highlights from the Fall 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade are the following, the release continues:
- 30% of hospitals received an A, 28% received a B, 36% received a C, 6% received a D, and 1% received an F.
- The top 10 states with the highest percentages of A hospitals are Colorado, Florida, Idaho, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Utah.
- No A hospitals were listed in the District of Columbia, North Dakota or Vermont.
“Measures used in the Hospital Safety Grade have changed over time, but those that could be reliably tracked over the past decade show a consistent pattern of better performance,” the release explains. “For five of the outcome measures that can be tracked, these improvements saved an estimated more than 16,000 lives over the 10-year period,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, in the release. “We salute hospitals for this milestone and encourage them to accelerate their hard work saving patient lives,” she added in the release.
“The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harms to patients,” the release points out. “Leapfrog assigns grades to hospitals based on 30 national performance measures reflecting each hospital’s record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. The grading system is fully transparent and free to the public, and grades are updated biannually in the fall and in the spring to help patients choose the safest hospitals for their care,” the release notes.
SMH-Venice, which started serving patients in November 2021, was not open long enough to be included in Leapfrog’s current study, the release points out.
The Leapfrog grading system is peer-reviewed and free to the public, the release says. To view the Fall 2022 results, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.