Health & Fitness
31 IL Hospitals Earn ‘A’ Grades In New Hospital Safety Ranking
The ranking grades general hospitals in the U.S. based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents and more.
A new hospital safety report released Wednesday shows that 31 hospitals in Illinois earned “A” grades for their ability to protect patients from often preventable harm.
The Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2026 Hospital Safety Grades are a biannual ranking that assigns “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” letter grades to all general hospitals in the United States based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections.
“A” hospitals in Illinois are:
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- Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital
- Endeavor Health Evanston Hospital
- Endeavor Health Glenbrook Hospital
- Endeavor Health Highland Park Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital
- OSF HealthCare St. James-John W. Albrecht Medicine Center
- OSF St. Anthony’s Health Center
- Rush University Medical Center
- St. Mary’s Hospital-Kankakee
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth-LaGrange
- University of Chicago Medical Center
- Advocate Condell Medicine Center
- Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
- Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
- Advocate Sherman Hospital
- Advocate South Suburban Hospital
- Community First Medical Center
- Endeavor Health Edward Hospital
- Jackson Park Hospital
- Loyola Medicine Gottlieb Memorial Hospital
- Morris Hospital
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital
- Riverside Medical Center
- St. Joseph Hospital-Elgin
- St. Bernard Hospital
- University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System
“B” hospitals are:
- Advocate Christ Medical Center
- Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital
- Advocate Trinity Hospital
- Blessing Hospital
- Deaconess Illinois Medical Center
- Endeavor Health Northwest Community Hospital
- Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital
- FHN Memorial Hospital
- Franciscan Health Olympia Fields
- Loretto Hospital
- Loyola Medicine MacNeal Hospital
- McDonough District Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine Catherine Gratz Griffin Lake Forest Hospital
- OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center
- OSF St. Joseph Medical Center
- Ottawa Regional Hospital and Healthcare Center, dba OSF St Elizabeth Medical Center
- Resurrection Medical Center
- Rush Copely Medical Center
- Rush Oak Park Hospital
- St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital
- Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center
- Silver Cross Hospital
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Bolingbrook
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Glen Oaks
According to the safety grades, only one hospital — Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago — received an “F” grade. Additionally, three hospitals received a ‘D’ and 22 got a ‘C’ grade.
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Leapfrog did not assign spring 2026 Safety Grades to 27 Illinois hospitals that did not participate in the 2024 or 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Survey.
Illinois ranks 21st among all states for the percentage of hospitals receiving “A” grades in the spring 2026 report card.
Leapfrog said its biannual report — the only national ratings program focused exclusively on patient safety — shows improvement in 17 measures, including health care-associated infections, medication safety systems and patient experience.
“The good news is that hospitals across the country are making meaningful strides in patient safety and helping save countless lives,” Leah Binder, the group’s president and CEO, said in a news release.
After peaking in fall 2022, several health care-associated infections declined sharply, according to the report. Central line-associated bloodstream infections fell by half; catheter-associated urinary tract infections dropped 45 percent; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections declined 42 percent; and serious intestinal infections linked to antibiotic use went down 30 percent.
The report also found gains in medication safety. Use of computerized physician order entry systems, which can flag prescribing errors, rose from 66 percent of hospitals meeting Leapfrog standards in 2018 to 90 percent in 2025. Adoption of barcode medication administration systems increased from 47 percent to 93 percent over the same period.
Patient experience scores, measured through Medicare and other federal surveys, have improved since hitting a low in fall 2023, rising by about one point on average across five safety-related measures, including communication with nurses and doctors and responsiveness of hospital staff.
Among states, Connecticut, Virginia and South Carolina had the highest share of A-rated hospitals, followed by Utah, Montana, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and California. Montana and Maryland entered the top 10 for the first time, while Florida rose from 15th place in fall 2025 to seventh. No hospitals in North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont or Wyoming received an A grade.
About 450 hospitals were not assigned grades after a federal court ruling in South Florida involving several facilities that did not participate in Leapfrog’s 2024 or 2025 survey. The group said it applied the change nationwide and is appealing the decision while reviewing its methodology.
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