Naperville Hospital Gets B Grade in Safety Rankings

NAPERVILLE, 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.

Edward Hospital, located at 801 S. Washington Street, was given a B grade. In April 2016, the hospital received an A grade.

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 almost entirely above average in its efforts to prevent errors. In surgery problems, Edward Hospital received three above average scores and three below average scores. Click here to see the full report.

Edward Hospital Public Information Officer Keith Hartenberger said in a statement that the hospital is always open to feedback and looking for ways to improve safety and quality for patients.

"After receiving A’s in six of the seven previous releases of Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Scores, the Fall 2016 grade indicates areas in which we must make improvements and we will," he said. "The current Leapfrog information also shows Edward Hospital meets or exceeds the national average in numerous safety measures. Leapfrog is just one of many safety and quality measures that patients can use to assess a hospital’s performance. Numerous other national healthcare organizations have recognized Edward’s high quality of care."

According to Hartenberger, those recognitions include:

• …named one of nation’s Top 100 Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics (2016).
• …named to Becker’s Hospital Review 2016 list of “100 Great Community Hospitals.”
• …named to Becker’s Hospital Review list of “100 Hospitals with Great Heart Programs 2016.”
• …named one of 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals in the U.S. by Truven Health Analytics (2015).
• …named by Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality as one of 56 hospitals in U.S. and one of five in Illinois with lowest heart failure mortality rates (2015).
• …re-designated a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence a second time (2014), with original designation in 2005 and first re-designation in 2010. Edward is one of only six hospitals in Illinois to achieve Magnet status three times or more.

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.”