New FL Hospital Safety Ratings Released: 7 Get 'D' Grade, 47 Get 'A'

FLORIDA — Dozens of Florida hospitals received top grades in protecting patient safety for the past year, even as the average risk of contracting deadly infections remained elevated nationwide after spiking to a five-year high during the pandemic.

The spring 2023 hospital safety grades for 129 Florida hospitals were released Wednesday by The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog.

Florida ranked 11th overall on the current list, compared to a No. 10 ranking last fall.

Patient experience measures — like communication from doctors — also declined, according to the report. Leapfrog said the findings should be a wake-up call to hospitals nationwide.

The Leapfrog Group uses an academic grading scale with five letter grades to score nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide on more than 30 measures of patient safety. Leapfrog says its hospital rating system is the only one in the country focusing solely on a hospital’s ability to protect patients from preventable errors.

In Florida, 47 hospitals received an A grade, 32 hospitals received a B, 45 hospitals received a C and 7 hospitals received a D grade. No hospitals in the state received an F.

Here are the ratings, according to Leapfrog:

A

• Orlando Health- Orlando Regional Medical Center
• AdventHealth Orlando
• AdventHealth East Orlando
• Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola
• Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital
• Orlando Health Central Hospital, Ocoee
• AdventHealth Altamonte Springs
• AdventHealth DeLand
• Larkin Community Hospital - Palm Springs Campus, Hialeah
• Orlando Health South Lake Hospital, Clermont
• AdventHealth Celebration
• AdventHealth Fish Memorial, Orange City
• St. Joseph's Hospital North, Lutz
• Baptist Medical Center South, Jacksonville
• Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, Vero Beach
• Bartow Regional Medical Center
• Baptist Health Homestead Hospital
• Mayo Clinic Florida, Jacksonville
• HCA Florida Lake City Hospital
• HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital, Sanford
• AdventHealth Winter Park
• HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital
• HCA Florida Memorial Hospital, Jacksonville
• HCA Florida St. Petersburg Hospital
• Larkin Community Hospital, South Miami
• HCA Florida Trinity Hospital
• HCA Florida North Florida Hospital, Gainesville
• HCA Florida Ocala Hospital
• HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital, Fort Walton Beach
• HCA Florida Westside Hospital, Plantation
• HCA Florida West Hospital, Pensacola
• HCA Florida Brandon Hospital
• HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, Fort Pierce
• HCA Florida Largo Hospital
• Jupiter Medical Center
• HCA Florida Capital Hospital, Tallahassee
• HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital, Port St. Lucie
• HCA Florida Englewood Hospital
• AdventHealth Wesley Chapel
• AdventHealth Daytona Beach
• Healthpark Medical Center, Fort Myers
• Oviedo Medical Center
• St. Joseph's Hospital - South, Riverview
• HCA Florida West Marion Hospital, Ocala
• Cape Coral Hospital
• AdventHealth Carrollwood, Tampa
• AdventHealth North Pinellas, Tarpon Springs

B

• Baptist Health Bethesda Hospital East, Boynton Beach
• AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach
• AdventHealth Zephyrhills
• AdventHealth Apopka
• Winter Haven Hospital
• HCA Florida Twin Cities Hospital, Niceville
• Holy Cross Hospital, Fort Lauderdale
• AdventHealth Kissimmee
• Broward Health North, Deerfield Beach
• Rockledge Regional Medical Center
• AdventHealth Sebring
• AdventHealth Lake Placid
• HCA Florida Osceola Hospital
• HCA Florida Aventura Hospital
• Baptist Health South Miami Hospital
• Cape Canaveral Hospital, Cocoa Beach
• HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, Miami
• HCA Florida Blake Hospital, Bradenton
• HCA Florida Woodmont Hospital, Tamarac
• HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital
• Memorial Hospital Pembroke, Pembroke Pines
• HCA Florida Northside Hospital, St. Petersburg
• HCA Florida Gulf Coast Hospital, Panama City
• HCA Florida Raulerson Hospital, Okeechobee
• HCA Florida South Shore Hospital, Sun City Center
• Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital, Longwood
• HCA Florida Palms West Hospital, Loxahatchee
• Broward Health Coral Springs
• Memorial Hospital Miramar
• Cleveland Clinic Hospital Weston
• St. Vincent's Medical Center Southside, Jacksonville
• Baptist Health West Kendall Baptist Hospital, Miami

C

• Maptist Health Baptist Hospital of Miami
• NCH North Naples Hospital
• Holmes Regional Medical Center, Melbourne
• Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital Bay, Panama City
• Parrish Medical Center, Titusville
• North Shore Medical Center, Miami
• Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach
• Memorial Regional Hospital, Hollywood
• Broward Health Medical Center, Fort Lauderdale
• Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside, Jacksonville
• Steward Hialeah Hospital
• AdventHealth Waterman, Tavares
• HCA Florida Mercy Hospital, Miami
• HCA Florida JFK Hospital, Atlantis
• UF Health Leesburg Hospital
• AdventHealth Lake Wales
• AdventHealth Palm Coast
• North Okaloosa Medical Center, Crestview
• Lakeland Regional Medical Center
• Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center
• Coral Gables Hospital
• Palmetto General Hospital, Hialeah
• HCA Florida Northwest Hospital, Margate
• Broward Health Imperial Point, Fort Lauderdale
• Memorial Regional Hospital South, Hollywood
• HCA Florida JFK North Hospital, West Palm Beach
• HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital, Port Charlotte
• Delray Medical Center, Delray Beach
• HCA Florida Oak Hill Hospital, Brooksville
• West Boca Medical Center, Boca Raton
• Wellington Regional Medical Center
• Memorial Hospital West, Pembroke Pines
• Physicians Regional Healthcare System - Collier Boulevard, Naples
• Good Samaritan Medical Center, West Palm Beach
• St. Mary's Medical Center, West Palm Beach
• UF Health The Villages Hospital
• Melbourne Regional Medical Center
• Baptist Health Doctors Hospital, Coral Gables
• Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital
• HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital, Kissimmee
• St. Vincent's Medical Center Clay County, Middleburg
• Halifax Health UF Health Medical Center of Deltona Hospital
• Baptist Health Bethesda Hospital West, Boynton Beach
• Cleveland Clinic Martin South Hospital, Stuart
• Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital, Port St. Lucie

D

• Halifax Health Medical Center, Daytona Beath
• Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami
• Adventhealth Heart of Florida, Davenport
• Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital
• Jackson South Medical Center, Miami
• Florida Medical Center, Fort Lauderdale
• Jackson North Medical Center, North Miami Beach

F

None

High rates of three health care-associated infections, or HAIs, “should stop hospitals in their tracks,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a news release, noting that “infections like these can be life for death for some patients.”

“We recognize the tremendous strain the pandemic put on hospitals and their workforce, but alarming findings like these indicate hospitals must recommit to patient safety and build more resilience,” Binder said.

The problematic infections are Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA; central line-associated bloodstream infections, or CLABSI; and catheter-associated urinary tract infections, or CAUTI. When compared to rankings that covered the period immediately before the COVID-19 outbreak, the analysis found an increased infection ratio for all three infections. The spring 2023 rankings cover late 2021 and 2022.

However, another such infection, Clostridioides difficile, or C.Diff, improved and there was no significant change for surgical site infections post surgery, the report said. The standardized infection ratio used to measure changes in the rates of infections compares the actual number of reported infections to the predicted number at each hospital.

“Not only are HAIs among the leading causes of death in the U.S., they also increase length of hospitalization stays and add to costs,” Binder said. “Our pre-pandemic data showed improved HAI measures, but the spring 2023 Safety Grade data spotlights how hospital responses to the pandemic led to a decline in patient safety and HAI management.”

Patient experience measures included communication with nurses and doctors, staff responsiveness, and communication about medicine and discharge information. Nationally, the average of all five measures declined when compared to pre-pandemic measures, according to the report.