​New MN Hospital Safety Grades Released: See Best, Worst

MINNESOTA — Several Minnesota hospitals received top grades in protecting patient safety, even as the average risk of contracting deadly infections remained elevated nationwide after spiking to a five-year high during the pandemic, according to the spring 2023 hospital safety grades released Wednesday by The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog.

Patient experience measures — like communication from doctors — also declined, according to the report. Leapfrog said the findings should be a wake-up call to hospitals nationwide.

The Leapfrog Group uses an academic grading scale with five letter grades to score nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide on more than 30 measures of patient safety. Leapfrog says its hospital rating system is the only one in the country focusing solely on a hospital’s ability to protect patients from preventable errors.

In Minnesota, 14 hospitals received an A, 10 hospitals received a B, and 21 hospitals received a C. Zero hospitals received a D or F grade.

Here are the ratings, according to Leapfrog:

A

• Essentia Health Saint Mary's Medical Center
• Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Marys Campus
• Cambridge Medical Center
• United Hospital
• Lake Region Healthcare
• Methodist Hospital
• Abbott Northwestern Hospital
• Mayo Clinic Hospital - Methodist Campus
• Lakeview Hospital
• Owatonna Hospital
• Buffalo Hospital
• Mayo Clinic Health System - Mankato
• Mayo Clinic Health System - Austin
• Mayo Clinic Health System - Fairmont

B

• Hennepin Healthcare
• Olmsted Medical Center
• Northfield Hospital
• Fairview Range
• Ridgeview Medical Center
• M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital
• Mercy Hospital
• Mercy Hospital - Unity Campus
• M Health Fairview Northland Medical Center
• M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital

C

• North Memorial Health Hospital
• Mayo Clinic Health System - Red Wing
• Sanford Worthington Medical Center
• Alomere Health
• CentraCare - St. Cloud Hospital
• Winona Health
• St. Luke's Hospital
• M Health Fairview Lakes Medical Center
• Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital
• Essentia Health - Saint Joseph's Medical Center
• M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center - West Bank Hospital
• Essentia Health - Virginia Clinic
• CentraCare - Rice Memorial Hospital
• Sanford Bemidji Medical Center
• Essentia Health St. Mary's - Detroit Lakes
• St. Francis Regional Medical Center
• Regions Hospital
• Hutchinson Health Hospital
• M Health Fairview St. John's Hospital
• M Health Fairview Woodwinds Hospital
• Maple Grove Hospital

High rates of three health care-associated infections, or HAIs, “should stop hospitals in their tracks,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a news release, noting that “infections like these can be life for death for some patients.”

“We recognize the tremendous strain the pandemic put on hospitals and their workforce, but alarming findings like these indicate hospitals must recommit to patient safety and build more resilience,” Binder said.

The problematic infections are Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA; central line-associated bloodstream infections, or CLABSI; and catheter-associated urinary tract infections, or CAUTI. When compared to rankings that covered the period immediately before the COVID-19 outbreak, the analysis found an increased infection ratio for all three infections. The spring 2023 rankings cover late 2021 and 2022.

However, another such infection, Clostridioides difficile, or C.Diff, improved and there was no significant change for surgical site infections post surgery, the report said. The standardized infection ratio used to measure changes in the rates of infections compares the actual number of reported infections to the predicted number at each hospital.

“Not only are HAIs among the leading causes of death in the U.S., they also increase length of hospitalization stays and add to costs,” Binder said. “Our pre-pandemic data showed improved HAI measures, but the spring 2023 Safety Grade data spotlights how hospital responses to the pandemic led to a decline in patient safety and HAI management.”

Patient experience measures included communication with nurses and doctors, staff responsiveness, and communication about medicine and discharge information. Nationally, the average of all five measures declined when compared to pre-pandemic measures, according to the report.