Hospital Safety Grades

The Economic Alliance for Michigan (EAM) announced  the release of the Fall 2016 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, published by national nonprofit watchdog The Leapfrog Group. Assigning A, B, C, D, and F letter grades, the Safety Grade provides the most complete picture of avoidable hospital errors, accidents and infections that kill or harm hundreds of thousands of patients every year. Over 2,600 general acute-care hospitals received a grade this fall.

In Michigan, grades were assigned to 79 hospitals with 29 receiving an “A”, the highest letter grade, showcasing a dedication to safe care. The Fall 2016 grades show an improvement in patient safety within Michigan. In Fall 2015, the state only had 19 “A” hospitals.

Nationally, Michigan ranks nineteenth for patient safety with 36.7 percent of the state’s hospitals earning an “A”. Four hospitals have received “Straight As” since the inception of the Grade in 2012:  Dickinson County Healthcare System in Iron Mountain, DMC Huron Valley-Sinai in Commerce Township, Henry Ford Allegiance Health in Jackson and University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor.

See below for full list of “A” hospitals.

“We are very pleased to see the upward trend in hospitals that are putting patient safety first,” said Bret Jackson, president, EAM. “We especially congratulate Dickinson County Healthcare, Henry Ford Allegiance, DMC Huron Valley-Sinai, and University of Michigan Health for their year after year commitment to being the best and safest the state has to offer.”

According to Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder, “In the fast-changing health care landscape, patients should be aware that hospitals are not all equally competent at protecting them from injuries and infections. We believe everyone has the right to know which hospitals are the safest and encourage community members to call on their local hospitals to change, and on their elected officials to spur them to action. States that put a priority on safety have shown remarkable improvements.”

The EAM is nervous of current grades. “With medical errors being the third leading cause of death in the United States, we are concerned with the number of Michigan hospitals that are not meeting safe standards,” stated Jackson. “People need to know that the cost of care increases going to a C or D hospital, as does the risk of death.”

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade assigns A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

For more information about the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade or to view the list of state rankings, please visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org. To learn how employers are footing the bill for hospital errors, visit Leapfrog’s Cost Calculator.