Kaiser Permanent Hospitals in Northern California and Elsewhere Are Among Safest in the Nation

New report by The Leapfrog Group examines safety records of more than 2,600 hospitals around the country and assigns grades based on limiting injury and error

Fifteen Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California were honored with an “A” Hospital Safety Score^SM by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits. They were among 28 Kaiser Permanente hospitals around the country that         received the top grade in the safety report, which examined the records of more than 2,600 hospitals in the U.S. In Northern California, three other Kaiser Permanente hospitals received a “B” score, The Leapfrog Group’s next highest mark.

 The Hospital Safety Score^SM was calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel using publicly available data on patient injuries, medical and medication errors, and infections. U.S. hospitals were assigned an A, B, C, D, or F for their safety.

 “Kaiser Permanente is consistently recognized for providing high-quality health care and often cited for being a model for the future of health care,” said Gregory Adams, president of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals/Health Plan in Northern California. “Our physicians, nurses and staff work diligently to ensure our patients receive personalized, coordinated and technologically advanced health care, and we are having a positive and often life-changing impact on the health and well-being of our members and the communities we serve.”

 Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California with “A” scores were: South San Francisco, Redwood City, Antioch, Fremont, Hayward, Manteca, Oakland, Roseville, Sacramento, San Jose, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, South Sacramento and Vallejo. Additionally, Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Fresno, San Rafael and Walnut Creek received “B” ratings.

 “Our excellent ratings from Leapfrog and other third-party organizations reflect the superiority of our integrated model for medical care, which enables our medical group, hospitals and health plan to work together on behalf of our patients to achieve the highest quality outcomes,” said Dr. Robert Pearl, executive director and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group.  “To provide superior medical treatment in the 21st century, you need the best physicians, the most advanced technology and excellence across all disciplines: primary care, specialty care, outpatient and inpatient care.”

 “It’s The Leapfrog Group’s goal to give patients the information they need and deserve before even entering a hospital,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We congratulate the hospitals that earned an ‘A’ and we look forward to the day when all hospitals in the U.S. will earn the highest scores for putting patient safety first.”

To see all hospital scores as they compare nationally and locally, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org, the Hospital Safety Score^SM website, which also provides information on how the public can protect themselves and loved ones during a hospital stay.

 Calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s nine-member Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 26 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from infections, injuries, and medical and medication errors. The panel includes: John Birkmeyer (University of Michigan), Ashish Jha (Harvard University), Lucian Leape (Harvard University), Arnold Millstein (Stanford University), Peter Pronovost (Johns Hopkins University), Patrick Romano (University of California, Davis), Sara Singer (Harvard University), Tim Vogus (Vanderbilt University), and Robert Wachter (University of California, San Francisco).