Hospital Safety Grades: The Best - And Worst - In Michigan

A nationwide hospital safety analysis has found that 23 hospitals in Michigan received an “A” grade for preventing medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections, which collectively are the third leading cause of death in America. On the flip side, 5 hospitals received a “D” or worse, including around Metro Detroit, Pontiac and Lansing.

Michigan is one of only 10 states to have a hospital with an “F” grade: Hurley Medical Center in Flint.

The Leapfrog Group released it’s bi-yearly hospital safety grades on Tuesday, finding that hospitals overall have improved in reducing the number of avoidable deaths. The group assessed roughly 2,500 hospitals. Of those, 30 percent earned an “A,” 28 percent earned a “B,” 35 percent a “C,” 6 percent a “D” and 1 percent an “F.”

“The national numbers on death and harm in hospitals have alarmed us for decades. What we see in the new round of Safety Grades are signs of many hospitals making significant improvements in their patient safety record,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, said in a release.

The assessment system assigns school-style letter grades to general acute-care hospitals. The hope is to determine a patient’s risk of further injury or infection if they visit a certain hospital.

Here are the full list of hospital grades in Michigan:

Grade A

1. Dickinson County Healthcare System, Iron Mountain: A
2. Harper-Hutzel Hospital, Detroit: A
3. Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, West Bloomfield: A
4. Hillsdale Hospital, Hillsdale: A
5. Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital, Commerce Township: A
6. Lakeland Regional Medical Center-St. Joseph, St. Joseph: A
7. McLaren Macomb, Mt. Clemens: A
8. Memorial Healthcare, Owosso: A
9. Metro Health - University of MI Health, Wyoming: A
10. Munson Healthcare Cadillac Hospital, Cadillac: A
11. Munson Healthcare Grayling Hospital, Grayling: A
12. Munson Medical Center, Traverse City: A
13. Otsego Memorial Hospital, Gaylord: A
14. Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital, Grand Rapids: A
15. Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital, Grand Rapids: A
16. Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital, Ludington: A
17. Spectrum Health United Hospital, Greenville: A
18. Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital, Zeeland: A
19. St. Joseph Mercy, Chelsea: A
20. St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, Pontiac: A
21. University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor: A
22. UP Health System - Marquette: A
23. War Memorial Hospital, Sault Sainte Marie: A

Grade B

1. Ascension Crittenton Hospital, Rochester: B
2. Beaumont Hospital, Grosse Pointe: B
3. Beaumont Hospital, Farmington Hills: B
4. Beaumont Hospital, Trenton: B
5. Bronson Battle Creek: B
6. Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo: B
7. Covenant Medical Center Harrison Campus, Saginaw: B
8. Garden City Hospital: B
9. Henry Ford Allegiance Health, Jackson: B
10. Henry Ford Macomb Hospitals, Clinton Township: B
11. Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital: B
12. McLaren - Bay Region, Bay City: B
13. McLaren - Northern Michigan, Petoskey: B
14. McLaren Port Huron: B
15. Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, Grand Rapids: B
16. MidMichigan Medical Center-Gratiot, Alma: B
17. MidMichigan Medical Center-Midland: B
18. ProMedica Bixby Hospital, Adrian: B
19. Sparrow Hospital & Health System: B
20. Spectrum Health Big Rapids Hospital: B
21. St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti: B
22. St. Mary Mercy Hospital, Livonia: B
23. Sturgis Hospital, Sturgis: B
24. West Branch Regional Medical Center, West Branch: B

Grade C

1. Beaumont Hospital - Troy: C
2. Beaumont Hospital - Dearborn: C
3. Beaumont Hospital - Royal Oak: C
4. Beaumont Hospital - Taylor: C
5. Beaumont Hospital - Wayne: C
6. Borgess Medical Center, Kalamazoo: C
7. Community Health Center of Branch County, Coldwater: C
8. Detroit Receiving Hospital and University Health Center, Detroit: C
9. Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit: C
10. Lake Huron Medical Center, Port Huron: C
11. Lakeland Community Hospital Niles: C
12. McLaren - Lapeer Region, Lapeer: C
13. McLaren Central Michigan, Mount Pleasant: C
14. McLaren Flint: C
15. Mercy Health Hackley Campus, Muskegon: C
16. Mercy Health Mercy Campus, Muskegon: C
17. MidMichigan Medical Center - Alpena: C
18. Munson Healthcare Manistee Hospital, Manistee: C
19. ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital, Monroe: C
20. Providence Park Hospital, Novi: C
21. Providence Park Hospital, Southfield Campus: C
22. Sinai-Grace Hospital, Detroit: C
23. St. John Hospital and Medical Center, Detroit: C
24. St. Mary’s of Michigan of Saginaw: C

Grade D

1. McLaren - Greater Lansing: D
2. McLaren - Oakland, Pontiac: D
3. St. John Macomb Hospital, Warren: D
4. St. John Oakland Hospital, Madison Heights: D

Grade F

1. Hurley Medical Center, Flint: F

Among the findings nationally, five hospitals that received an “A” grade for the first time this year previously received an “F” grade, the group said, and 46 hospitals earned an “A” for the first time since the grading system began six years ago.

Leapfrog said its analysis showed 89 hospitals that had previously received “D” or “F” ratings had improved to an “A” this year.

Rhode Island, Hawaii, Wisconsin and Idaho all previously ranked near the bottom of the state rankings with low percentages of “A” hospitals, but now all rank in the top 10.

Here are some of the other findings:

• The five states with the highest percentage of “A” hospitals this spring are Hawaii, Idaho, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia
• Ten states have hospitals with “F” grades are California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York

Leapfrog says you shouldn’t refuse emergency care because of a bad safety grade. They’re meant to be used as a guide for planned events and a research tool for potential emergencies.

Patch reporters Dan Hampton and Feroze Dhanoa contributed to this report.

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