Essex County Hospitals Graded From A To F (How Did Yours Do?)

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A nationwide hospital safety analysis has released its annual report card for local health facilities, including those in Essex County.

The Leapfrog Group released its bi-yearly hospital safety grades of facilities across the nation on Tuesday. 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 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. Leapfrog says that a patient 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.

• See related article: Here Are NJ's Safest Hospitals In 2018, And The Worst: Nonprofit

In Essex County, the following hospitals received grades:

• Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville – A
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston - A
• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark - B
• HackensackUMC Mountainside, Montclair - C
• Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark - C
• University Hospital, Newark - F

With previous reporting by Tom Davis, Patch Staff

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