Swedish Covenant Hospital Earns 5th Straight Top Safety Grade

Designed to rate how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections, the latest Hospital Safety Score honored Swedish Covenant Hospital with an“A” – its top grade in patient safety. The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered by The Leapfrog Group (Leapfrog), an independent industry watchdog.

This is the fifth-straight “A” rating earned by Swedish Covenant Hospital, which was also named Chicago’s only ‘Top Hospital’ in Leapfrog’s 2013 rankings.

“Our clinical staff is committed to providing the safest possible care and delivering excellent patient outcomes,” said Janis Rueping, Swedish Covenant Hospital vice president of quality improvement and risk management. “Earning our fifth consecutive Leapfrog ‘A’ for safety is testament to our hospital’s mission and our staff’s expertise.” 

As one of the few independent, nonprofit hospitals in the north side, Swedish Covenant Hospital promotes healing and healthy living by providing expert care and unmatched patient services in state-of-the-art facilities. It is one of the only hospitals in Chicago to offer 3D mammography and the most sophisticated heart-imaging technology, in addition to a clinically integrated medical group that excels at coordinating patient care thanks to a robust electronic medical record platform.

Calculated under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 U.S. general hospitals were assigned scores in spring 2014, with about 32-percent receiving an “A” grade. The Hospital Safety Score is fully transparent, and its website offers a full analysis of the data and methodology used in determining grades.

“Safety should come first for our families when we pick a hospital, because errors and infections are common and deadly,” said Leah Binder, president & CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which produces the Hospital Safety Score. “No hospital is perfect, but we congratulate the Board, clinicians, administration, and staff of Swedish Covenant Hospital for achieving an “A” and showing us that you made the well-being of you patients your top priority.”  

To see how Swedish Covenant Hospital’s score compares locally and nationally, and to access safety tips for patients and their loved ones, visit the Hospital Safety Score website at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org. Consumers can also go to www.hospitalsafetyscore.org for a free download of the Hospital Safety Score app.