Here Are NJ's Safest Hospitals In 2018, And The Worst: Nonprofit

A nationwide hospital safety analysis has found that 22 hospitals in New Jersey received an “A” grade for preventing medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections, which collectively are the third leading cause of death in America. New Jersey was one of 10 states to have a hospital that received an "F."

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.

These New Jersey hospitals received an A grade:

• Bayshore Medical Center, Holmdel
• Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell, Pennington
• CarePoint Health-Bayonne Medical Center, Bayonne
• Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville
• Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack
• Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck
• Inspira Medical Center Vineland, Vineland
• Jefferson Stratford Hospital, Stratford
• Jefferson Washington Township Hospital, Turnersville
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune
• Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch
• Morristown Medical Center, Morristown
• Newton Medical Center, Newton
• Overlook Medical Center, Summit
• Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, Hamilton
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston
• Shore Medical Center, Somers Point
• The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood
• University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, Plainsboro
• Virtua Marlton Hospital, Marlton
• Virtua Voorhees Hospital, Voorhees

These New Jersey hospitals got a B grade:

• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center - City Campus, Atlantic City
• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center-Mainland Campus, Pomona
• Cape Regional Medical Center, Cape May Court House
• Capital Health Regional Medical Center, Trenton
• Carepoint Health-Hoboken University Medical Center, Hoboken
• CentraState Medical Center, Freehold
• Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains
• Community Medical Center of Toms River, Toms River
• Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood
• Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington
• Inspira Medical Center Woodbury, Woodbury
• Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital, Cherry Hill
• Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City
• JFK Medical Center, Edison
• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark
• Ocean Medical Center, Brick
• Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Perth Amboy, Perth Amboy
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, Somerville
• Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick
• Southern Ocean Medical Center, Manahawkin
• St. Francis Medical Center of Trenton, Trenton
• St. Mary's General Hospital, Passaic

These New Jersey hospitals got a C grade:

• CarePoint Health-Christ Hospital, Jersey City
• Cooper University Hospital, Camden
• Hackensack University Medical Center at Pascack Valley, Westwood
• HackensackUMC Mountainside, Montclair
• HackensackUMC Palisades, North Bergen
• Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Hackettstown
• Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County, Willingboro
• Memorial Hospital of Salem County, Salem
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Old Bridge, Old Bridge
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway, Rahway
• Saint Clare's Hospital of Denville, Denville
• Saint Clare's Hospital of Dover, Dover
• Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark
• St. Joseph's Wayne Medical Center, Wayne
• St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, Paterson
• St. Luke's Warren Campus, Phillipsburg
• Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth
• Virtua Memorial Hospital, Mount Holly

University Hospital in Newark got an "F." The hospital was reported to have a variety of problems related to infections, surgery and doctors, nurses and hospital staff, according to Leapfrog.

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.

Photo credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images