Newton-Wellesley Hospital Receives 'A' Safety Rating

WELLESLEY, MA – Newton-Wellesley Hospital is one of the safest in the state, according to a new ranking out Monday.

Twice a year, The Leapfrog Group releases its Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a program which assigns A, B, C, D and F letter grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals.

The safety grade is based on factors, such as how often patients at a given hospital acquire infections or other conditions during their stay, or how well-staffed a hospital's intensive care unit may be.

According to the Leapfrog ranking, Massachusetts' safest hospitals (those receiving "straight A's" over the past three years) are: Cape Cod Hospital, Hyannis; Harrington Memorial Hospital, Southbridge; Saint Anne's Hospital, Fall River; Beverly Hospital, Beverly; Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield; Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital, Brockton; Holy Family Hospital, Methuen; Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton; Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, Boston; and Addison Gilbert Hospital, Gloucester.

Here's a look at how Massachusetts as a whole stacked up against the rest of the country:

1. Hawaii
2. Idaho
3. Maine
4. Wisconsin
5. North Carolina
6. Utah
7. Massachusetts
8. Vermont
9. Oregon
10. Virginia

>>>See the full rankings and grades here

Rank is determined by the number of hospitals in a state that received an "A" rating from Leapfrog. In Massachusetts, 31 of the state's 60 hospitals received that rating in Leapfrog's Fall 2016 assessment.

Ten hospitals in the state did receive a "C" grade, but none scored below that letter.

You can find a full description of the data and methodology used in determining the grades here.

Alison Bauter (Patch Staff) contributed to this report.

Photo Credit: Meggiepc9 (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons