Economic Alliance for Michigan
Twelve Hospitals in Michigan Earn Patient Safety Award
An estimated 500 patients die each day due to medical errors
March 13, 2024
In observance of National Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 10th – 16th), the Economic Alliance for Michigan (EAM), a nonprofit group comprised of Michigan’s largest employers and unions, announces the recipients of the 2024 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 nineth year for the awards.
This year, twelve hospitals in Michigan earned a Hospital Patient Safety Award. EAM started the awards to raise awareness of the need for transparency for hospital outcomes and prices, and as a way to recognize the hospitals that work very hard to deliver the best all-around care. According to the Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization for patient safety, an estimated 500 people die every day in American hospitals due to medical errors. When a preventable mishap occurs to a patient, the patient is more than likely the one who financially pays for the mistake and the hospital is rarely held accountable.
“Hospital transparency leads to improvements in patient safety which helps create an improved patient experience with better health outcomes and lower medical bills,” said Bret Jackson, president and CEO of EAM. “The cost of hospital care in the U.S. continues to rise, and when a preventable error occurs it is costly to patients, their families, and to employers who provide health benefits.”
Hospitals can achieve two different awards, the Excellence Award and the Improvement Award. To be considered for an award, hospitals must have participated in the 2023 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, demonstrating the hospital’s commitment to transparency. The Leapfrog Group is the nation’s premier advocate of transparency in health care—collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data to inform value-based purchasing and improved decision-making.
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 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023).
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 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023). During the four terms, the grades must not trend backwards. The last term grade (Fall 2023) must be at least a “B” to qualify, and hospitals must improve by two letter grades during the four terms.
Evelen hospitals earned the Excellence Award:
- Corewell Health Big Rapids Hospital
- Corewell Health Greenville Hospital
- Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals Niles Hospital
- Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals St. Joseph Hospital
- Corewell Health Ludington Hospital
- Corewell Health Zeeland Hospital
- Garden City Hospital
- Henry Ford Health West Bloomfield Hospital
- Lake Huron Medical Center in Port Huron
- Munson Medical Center in Traverse City
- University of Michigan Health – Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor
One hospital earned the Improvement Award:
- Trinty Health Oakland Hospital in Pontiac
“Congratulations to the hospitals who earned an award this year. Your hard work and dedication to the safety of Michiganders is much appreciated,” stated Jackson. “Hopefully, other hospitals will wake up and answer the call to provide transparency and dedicate efforts to necessary improvements.”
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Patient Safety Awareness Week is an annual recognition event intended to encourage everyone to learn more about health care safety. Discover more information about patient safety and hospital safety grades at www.leapfroggroup.org.
Economic Alliance for Michigan 