UAB Hospital, UAB Highlands and Walker Baptist Medical Center led the way on the most recent edition of the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, an analysis of hospital safety conducted by the Leapfrog hospital watchdog group,
The Washington D.C.-based watchdog organization weighs their patient safety grades through 30 performance metrics, including preventing infections, surgery metrics, staff responsiveness and other factors.
Here's how local hospitals stacked up by system:
UAB Hospital: A
UAB Highlands: A
Medical West (a UAB affiliate): C
"“Patient safety is of the utmost importance, and UAB Medicine has taken innovative steps to maintain the highest possible safety standards,” said Loring Rue, UAB Hospital chief medical officer. “Our magnet nursing designation, Partners in your Care program and fall prevention team are just a few examples of our efforts that have created an enterprise wide culture of safety.”
St. Vincent's (Ascension)
St. Vincent's Birmingham: C
St. Vincent's East: C
St. Vincent's did not immediately provide a comment about its grade.
Brookwood Baptist Health (Tenet)
Walter Baptist Medical Center: A
Brookwood Baptist Medical Center: B
Princeton Baptist Medical Center: B
Shelby Baptist Medical Center: B
“This rating recognizes our continuous commitment to placing safety at the forefront of our patients’ care,” said Bob Phillips, Chief Executive Officer, Walker Baptist Medical Center.
Grandview Medical Center: C
“Grandview Medical Center is dedicated not only to service quality and patient safety but also to an overall positive patient experience. While we do not participate in the Leapfrog survey, we take every opportunity to further increase the quality and service of care that we provide to our patients. Tracking quality data, daily attention to process improvement and collaboration between our employees and the medical staff support the delivery of quality care and our improvements over time,” said Drew Mason, CEO of Grandview Medical Center. “The Leapfrog Group is one of several organizations reanalyzing data that is already publicly reported elsewhere, which results in different ratings on different sites. When choosing where to receive medical care, we encourage consumers to consider a variety of factors such as speaking with their physician about their individual care plan and by looking up safety and quality information for their state.”
Leapfrog assigns letter grades to more than 2,600 hospitals across the country, using national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey and Health Information Technology Supplement and other secondary metrics.