New CT Hospital Safety Ratings: 8 Get 'A' Grade, 2 Get 'D'

CONNECTICUT — Numerous Connecticut hospitals received top safety marks while others didn't quite measure up in The Leapfrog Group's annual fall safety grades.

The nonprofit health care watchdog group grades hospitals twice a year, assigning letter grades from "A" to "F" based on each hospital's ability to protect patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries and infections.

The fall 2021 Hospital Safety Grade represents the largest set of hospitals ever graded with grades assigned to 2,901 facilities.

In Connecticut, eight hospitals received an "A" grade, nine hospitals received a "B" grade, 10 hospitals received a "C" grade and two hospitals received a "D" grade. No Connecticut hospitals received an "F" grade.

Here are the rankings, according to Leapfrog:

A:

• Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, Torrington
• Day Kimball Hospital, Putnam
• Hartford Hospital, Hartford
• Middlesex Hospital, Middletown
• St. Francis Hospital & Medical Center, Hartford
• The Hospital of Central Connecticut, New Britain
• The William W. Backus Hospital, Norwich
• University of Connecticut Health Center, John Dempsey Hospital, Farmington

B:

• Bristol Hospital, Bristol
• Danbury Hospital, Danbury
• Johnson Memorial Hospital, Stafford Springs
• MidState Medical Center, Meriden
• New Milford Hospital, New Milford
• Norwalk Hospital, Norwalk
• Stamford Health, Stamford
• Waterbury Hospital, Waterbury
• Windham Community Memorial Hospital, Willimantic

C:

• Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich
• Griffin Hospital, Derby
• Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, New London
• Manchester Memorial Hospital, Manchester
• Rockville General Hospital, Vernon
• Saint Mary's Hospital, Waterbury
• Sharon Hospital, Sharon
• St. Vincent's Medical Center Holdings, Inc, Bridgeport
• Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven
• Yale-New Haven Hospital Saint Raphael Campus, New Haven

D:

• Bridgeport Hospital, Bridgeport
• Bridgeport Hospital Milford Campus, Milford

It's worth noting the hospitals were graded during a time of pressure on the health care system due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"As the pandemic continues, we all have heightened awareness of the importance of hospitals in our communities and in our lives," said Leah Binder, president & CEO of The Leapfrog Group. "It is critical that all hospitals put patient safety first. Now we have more information on more hospitals than ever before, so people can protect themselves and their families."

Across all states, highlights of findings from the fall 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade include:

• Thirty-two percent of hospitals received an "A," 26 percent received a "B," 35 percent received a "C," 7 percent received a "D," and less than 1 percent received an "F.”
• The five states with the highest percentages of "A" hospitals are Virginia, North Carolina, Idaho, Massachusetts, and Colorado.
• There were no "A" hospitals in Delaware, Washington, DC, and North Dakota.

The Safety Grades reflect performance on more than 30 evidence-based measures of patient safety, including for the first time, post-operative sepsis, blood leakage, and kidney injury.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is advised by an expert panel of leading patient safety authorities from across the country and receives guidance from the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. Grades are updated biannually in the fall and in the spring.

For more information about the Hospital Safety Grade, including details on individual hospital grades and state rankings, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org.

...with Patch editor Alexis Tarrazi.