Eighteen hospitals earn patient safety award

Knowing the patient safety level of a hospital may save your life

March 10, 2021 – In observing National Patient Safety Awareness Week, the Economic Alliance for Michigan (EAM), a nonprofit group comprised of Michigan’s largest employers and unions, announces the recipients of the 2021 EAM Hospital Patient Safety Awards, recognizing hospitals in Michigan consistently performing high marks and improvements in patient safety and quality of care. This marks the sixth year for the awards.

“Congratulations to all the hospitals who earned an EAM Hospital Patient Safety Award. By making patient safety a top priority, you are saving hundreds of lives,” said Bret Jackson, president, EAM. “There’s no doubt the pandemic has pushed hospitals and healthcare professionals in Michigan to their breaking points. Thank you to all the frontline workers for your hard work and dedication in helping Michiganders get through this difficult time.”

Hospitals can achieve two different awards, the Excellence Award and the Improvement Award. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, changes were adopted for qualifying hospitals for the awards. For 2021, to be considered for an award, hospitals must have participated in the annual Leapfrog Group survey for two years between 2018 and 2020.

Hospitals receiving the Excellence Award participated in the annual Leapfrog Group survey and maintained all “A’s” with Hospital Safety Grade in four consecutive grading terms (Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020).

Hospitals receiving the Improvement Award participated in the annual Leapfrog Group survey and demonstrated improvement in letter grades for four consecutive grading terms with Hospital Safety Grade (Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020). During the four terms, the grades must not trend backwards. The last term grade (Fall 2020) must be at least a “B” to qualify and hospitals must improve by two letter grades during the four terms.

Fourteen hospitals earned the Excellence Award:

• Beaumont Hospital, Troy
• Covenant Medical Center, Saginaw
• DMC Huron Valley-Sinai, Commerce Township
• Henry Ford Allegiance Health, Jackson
• Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, Clinton Township
• Lake Huron Medical Center, Port Huron
• McLaren Central Michigan, Mount Pleasant
• Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Munson Healthcare of Cadillac
• Spectrum Health Big Rapids
• Spectrum Health United Hospital, Greenville
• Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital
• St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea
• UP Health System – Portage, Hancock

Four hospitals earned the Improvement Award:

• McLaren Flint
• McLaren Lapeer
• MidMichigan Medical Center, Alpena
• Munson Healthcare of Grayling

“Even during a pandemic, hospitals need to be vigilante and prevent hospital-acquired conditions from occurring,” added Jackson. “When possible, patients should do research before a surgery or hospital stay to determine if the hospital provides a high rate of patient safety, which decreases the chances of an unnecessary infection.”

Discover more information about patient safety and hospital safety grades at www.leapfroggroup.org.