UMass Hospitals Get C's: Safest Hospitals in Massachusetts

WORCESTER, MA—How safe is your hospital? New grades released Wednesday by The Leapfrog Group will tell you just that. The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit founded by employers and healthcare providers, ranked 60 Massachusetts hospitals as part of its Spring 2017 safety grades.

UMass Memorial, both the University Campus and Memorial Campus, received C grades this time around. The University Campus has consistently received C grades dating back to 2014, two surveys per year. The Memorial Campus, too, has gotten all C's except for the Fall of 2015, when it got a B.

The hospitals were given a letter grade from A through F based on several factors. More than half of the 60 Massachusetts hospitals that were graded - 31 - received an A. None received a grade lower than a C.
To come up with the grades, Leapfrog looks at medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections. The goal is to determine what a patient's risk of further injury or infection is if they visit a certain hospital.

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According to the organization, more than 1,000 Americans die each day from preventable hospital errors. Hospitals given a B rating by Leapfrog had a 9 percent higher risk of avoidable death than A hospitals. That number jumps to 35 percent in C hospitals.

Here is a look at the hospitals that received A grades. (Visit the full list to learn more about individual rankings and see the full list.)

• Addison Gilbert Hospital - Gloucester
• Baystate Franklin Medical Center - Greenfield
• Baystate Noble Hospital - Westfield
• Berkshire Medical Center - Pittsfield
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Needham
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Plymouth
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton
• Beverly Hospital
• Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital - Boston
• Cape Cod Hospital - Hyannis
• Charlton Memorial Hospital - Fall River
• Emerson Hospital - Concord
• Hallmark Health System Melrose-Wakefield Hospita - Melrose
• Harrington Memorial Hospital - Southbridge
• Holyoke Medical Center
• Lowell General Hospital - Main Campus
• Lowell General Hospital - Saints Campus
• Marlborough Hospital
• Massachusetts General Hospital - Boston
• Milford Regional Medical Center
• Mount Auburn Hospital - Cambridge
• Nashoba Valley Medical Center - Ayer
• Newton-Wellesley Hospital - Newton
• Saint Anne's Hospital - Fall River
• Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital
• South Shore Hospital - Weymouth
• St Vincent Hospital - Worcester
• St. Luke's Hospital - New Bedford
• Sturdy Memorial Hospital - Attleboro
• Tobey Hospital - Wareham
• Winchester Hospital

Kara Seymour and Mike Carraggi, Patch staff, contributed to this report

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