Joliet Hospital Gets C Grade in Safety Rankings

JOLIET, IL — The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit founded by employers and health-care providers, announced its Fall 2016 hospital safety rankings Monday, a measure of how safe a hospital is for patients.

Presence St. Joseph Medical Center, located at 333 N. Madison Street in Joliet, was given a C grade. In April 2016, the hospital received a B.

Leapfrog looked at surgery problems, error prevention efforts, safety problems, hospital staff and infections to determine the grades. The goal was to determine a patient's risk of further injury or infection if they visited a certain hospital.

The hospital performed above average in terms of MRSA and C. diff infection rates, meaning that it saw fewer cases of it. However, it performed below average for urinary tract infection rates during intensive care unit stays.

Presence also performed below average across the board on error prevention efforts. Click here to see the full report.

A message sent to Presence seeking comment on the grade was not immediately returned.

In June 2016, nurses filed suit against Presence over what they claimed was a "humiliating" and "demeaning" hospital boot camp.

Leapfrog says preventable errors and infections are the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer.

“In the fast-changing healthcare landscape, patients should be aware that hospitals are not all equally competent at protecting them from injuries and infections,” Leapfrog President Leah Binder said in a press release. “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 put a priority on safety have shown remarkable improvements.”