Hudson Valley Hospital Safety Grades Released

The Hospital Safety Score, from a nonprofit organization “committed to driving quality, safety, and transparency in the U.S. health system,” has handed out its latest hospital safety grades for the fall of 2016.

The Hospital Safety Score examines how well each hospital does at keeping its patients safe from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. Information is compiled from surveys, public data and information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

It assigned scores to more than 2,500 hospitals nationwide, including 138 hospitals in New York — 19 of them in the Hudson Valley.

The top hospitals, according to the Hospital Safety Score, are found in Hawaii (No. 1), Idaho (No. 2) , Maine (No. 3), Wisconsin (No. 4) and North Carolina (No. 5).

New York was all the way down at No. 46 on the list, which is based on which states had the highest percentage of “A” ranked hospitals in its state.

In the Hudson Valley, two hospitals earned an “A” safety ratings score, and two earned a "D."

The Leapfrog Group's Hospital Safety Score includes 30 measures, all currently in use by national measurement and reporting programs, according to its website.

Hospital breakdowns including patient injuries, accidents and infections result in the death of 200 million Americans each year, according to Leapfrog officials.

Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder said in a statement that, “In the fast-changing healthcare 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 have put a priority on safety have shown remarkable improvements,” Binder said.

According to the Hospital Safety Score, the following are the hospitals in the Hudson Valley ranked on safety scores. Click on the hyperlink for each one to learn in depth why each hospital received the grade it did.

A

Vassar Brothers Medical Center, Poughkeepsie

Northern Westchester Hospital, Mount Kisco

B

Northern Dutchess Hospital, Rhinebeck

Nyack Hospital, Nyack

New York‐Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital, Cortlandt Manor

Putnam Hospital Center, Carmel

C

St John's Riverside Hospital ‐ Dobbs Ferry Pavilion, Dobbs Ferry

New York‐Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital, Bronxville

MidHudson Regional Hospital of Westchester Medical Center, Poughkeepsie

Columbia Memorial Health, Hudson

Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital, New Rochelle

St. John's Riverside Hospital, Yonkers

Westchester Medical Center,Valhalla

St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital Newburgh Campus, Newburgh

White Plains Hospital, White Plains

Orange Regional Medical Center, Middletown

St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital Cornwall Campus, Cornwall

D

HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley ‐ Broadway Campus, Kingston

St. Joseph's Medical Center of Yonkers, Yonkers

*The website stated that if a hospital is not listed:

"Unfortunately, our experts sometimes do not have enough information to issue a fair Safety Score for every hospital. Certain hospitals are exempt from the requirement to publicly report on safety. Additionally, many hospitals are not able to provide data to the federal government because they are too small, or for other reasons Leapfrog experts are studying ways to score them in the future."

See the entire New York state list here.

Patch file photo