These Are The Safest Hospitals In Metro Denver, Nonprofit Says

LAKEWOOD, CO -- Nine Metro Denver hospitals received an A in hospital safety, according to new grades released by The Leapfrog Group on Tuesday. But Centura Health-St. Anthony Hospital, Lakewood, received a C when the nonprofit group released bi-annual hospital safety grades.

No hospital in Colorado received a grade below C.

Here are the Metro Denver hospitals that received an A:

1. Centura Health-Porter Adventist Hospital, Denver
2. Lutheran Medical Center, Wheat Ridge
3. Medical Center of Aurora, Aurora
4. North Suburban Medical Center, Thornton
5. Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Denver
6. Rose Medical Center, Denver
7. Saint Joseph Hospital, Denver
8. Sky Ridge Medical Center, Lone Tree
9. Swedish Medical Center, Englewood

Centura Health-St. Anthony Hospital, Lakewood, reported higher numbers of infections after surgery in the urinary tract, blood infections and C. diff bacteria infections than national average in 2016 the study showed. Centura St. Anthony also reported higher than average instances of patients with serious breathing problems and dangerous blood clots after surgery between 2013-2015. See the hospital's rating numbers here.

The hospital safety grades are released by the nonprofit group twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. The grades released on Tuesday showed that five states — Oregon, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Wisconsin and Idaho — showed significant improvement since the safety grades were first implemented in 2012.

"Errors and infections in hospitals are the third leading cause of death in America, and people deserve to know which of their hospitals are best at preventing them," Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, said in a press release.

Medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections are taken into account by Leapfrog when calculating the grades. The goal of the rankings is to determine a patient's risk of further injury or infection if they visit a certain hospital.

Leapfrog assigns A,B,C,D and F letter grades to general acute-care hospitals in the United States. Leapfrog explains that the safety grade includes 27 measures that are taken together to produce a single letter grade representing a hospital's overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.

The group uses performance measures from a variety of sources, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (You can read more about the letter grades here.)

Here are other Colorado hospitals that received an A:

1. Centura Health-St. Francis Medical Center, Colorado Springs
2. Centura Health-St. Mary Corwin Medical Center, Pueblo
3. Delta County Memorial Hospital, Delta
4. McKee Medical Center,McKee Medical Center, Loveland
5. Mercy Regional Medical Center, Durango
6. North Colorado Medical Center, Greeley
7. Poudre Valley Hospital, Fort Collins
8. St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center, Grand Junction
9. Yampa Valley Medical Center, Steamboat Springs

Click here to see how every Colorado hospital was ranked.

Leapfrog notes that of the 2,632 hospitals graded in Tuesday's update, 832 earned an "A," 662 a "B," 964 a "C," 159 a "D" and 15 an "F."

By Kara Seymour, Patch National Staff

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