Advocate Christ Earns D Mark In Leapfrog’s 2021 Hospital Grade

OAK LAWN, IL — How safe is Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn? While you’re likely in good hands, new safety grades released by a national watchdog group focused on improving health care safety show the facility might have room for improvement.

The Leapfrog Group on Wednesday released the fall 2021 Hospital Safety Grade, which assigns a letter grade to the nation’s general hospitals based on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents, injuries, and infections that kill or harm patients.

This year’s list reviewed just over 2,900 hospitals, the largest number of hospitals ever graded.

“As the pandemic continues, we all have heightened awareness of the importance of hospitals in our communities and in our lives,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, in a news release. “It is critical that all hospitals put patient safety first.
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Now we have more information on more hospitals than ever before, so people can protect themselves and their families,” Binder said.

Advocate Christ Medical Center, part of the Advocate Aurora Health Network, which declined to participate in the watchdog group’s survey, scored a “D” in the hospital grade survey.

The hospital did not answer questions in the categories of preventing and responding to patient harm, medication safety, healthcare associated infections, complex adult and pediatric, and care for elective outpatient surgery patients, and maternity, pediatric and critical care.

Other nearby hospitals in the Advocate Aurora Network were graded a “C,” including Advocate South Suburban, Advocate Trinity, Advocate Good Samaritan, Advocate Illinois Masonic, Advocate Sherman and Advocate Lutheran. These medical facilities also declined to participate in the survey.

Advocate Aurora issued a written state when asked about Christ Medical Center’s “D” grade.

“We firmly believe that meaningful quality and safety data should be transparent to the public,” Advocate Aurora spokesman Mike Riopell said. “However, accurately measuring this data can be challenging, and some rating organizations use limited methodologies that don’t always reflect the quality of care or the varied factors that contribute to patient outcomes. We’re proud of the safe and high-quality care we provide to patients now and in the future.”

OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park was earned a “B” mark, and appears to have participated in the survey.

Here’s a snapshot of how other south suburban hospitals in or near Oak Lawn were graded:

Roseland Community Hospital
Overall Grade: D

MacNeal Hospital
Overall Grade: B

Ingalls Memorial Hospital
Overall Grade: B

Franciscan St. James Health-Olympia Fields
Overall Grade: C

Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, Amita Health Adventist Medical Center LaGrange, Northwestern Medical Paloss Hospital and University of Chicago Medical Center all scored an “A.”

Only 32 percent of the more than 2,900 hospitals included in the survey earned an “A.”

To determine each hospital’s grade, a panel of medical experts selected 30 evidence-based measures of patient safety such as postoperative sepsis, blood leakage and kidney injury. They then determined the weight of each measure based on evidence, opportunity for improvement and patient impact.

Data on each measure was collected through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Information from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, available to all hospitals to complete, also affects grades.

Currently, Leapfrog does not assign grades to military or Veterans Administration hospitals, critical access hospitals, specialty hospitals, children’s hospitals or outpatient surgery centers.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade methodology has been peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Patient Safety.

The full methodology for the 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is available online.

Findings from the fall 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade include:

• Thirty-two percent of hospitals received an "A” grade; 26 percent received a "B," 35 percent received a "C," 7 percent received a "D," and less than 1 percent received an "F.”

• The five states with the highest percentages of "A" hospitals are Virginia, North Carolina, Idaho, Massachusetts and Colorado.

• There were no "A" hospitals in Delaware, Washington, D.C. and North Dakota.