New Jersey Hospital Safety Grades Released

A nonprofit founded by employers and health-care providers announced its Spring 2016 hospital safety rankings Monday, a measure of how safe a hospital is for patients in New Jersey.

Hospitals were given a letter grade from A through F based on several factors. Of the 2,571 hospitals studied nationwide, 798 earned an A, 639 earned a B, 957 earned a C, 162 earned a D and 15 earned an F.

At the state level, New Jersey was ranked 22nd in the nation. Vermont was ranked No. 1; six hospitals in the state were ranked, and five were given an A grade. Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Minnesota rounded out the top five.

State rankings were based on a percentage of state hospitals receiving an A grade.

Leapfrog looked at medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections to determine the grades. The goal was to determine a patient's risk of further injury or infection if they visited a certain hospital.

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 and 50 percent higher in D and F hospitals.

Leapfrog ranked 67 New Jersey hospitals. Here are the grades the hospitals received:

A

• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center - City Campus, Atlantic City
• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center-Mainland Campus, Galloway Township
• CarePoint Health-Bayonne Medical Center, Bayonne
• Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood
• Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack
• Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington
• Inspira Medical Center Elmer, Elmer
• Inspira Medical Center Woodbury, Woodbury,
• Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health, Jersey City
• Kennedy University Hospital - Cherry Hill, Cherry Hill
• Kennedy University Hospital - Stratford, Stratford
• Kennedy University Hospital - Washington Township, Turnersville
• Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch
• Morristown Medical Center, Morristown
• Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston
• Saint Clare's Hospital of Denville, Denville
• Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick
• Shore Medical Center, Somers Point
• The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood
• Virtua Marlton Hospital, Marlton
• Virtua Memorial Hospital, Mount Holly
• Virtua Voorhees Hospital, Voorhees

B

• Capital Health Regional Medical Center, Trenton
• CarePoint Health-Christ Hospital, Jersey City
• Carepoint Health-Hoboken University Medical Center, Hoboken
• HackensackUMC Mountainside, Montclair
• Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck
• Inspira Medical Center Vineland, Vineland
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune
• JFK Medical Center, Edison
• Newton Medical Center, Newton
• Ocean Medical Center, Brick
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway, Rahway
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, Somerville
• Saint Clare's Hospital of Dover, Dover,
• St. Francis Medical Center of Trenton, Trenton
• St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, Paterson
• University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, Plainsboro

C

• Bayshore Community Hospital, Holmdel
• Cape Regional Medical Center, Cape May Court House
• Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell, Pennington
• CentraState Medical Center, Freehold
• Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains
• Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville
• Community Medical Center of Toms River, Toms River
• Cooper University Health Care, Camden
• Hackensack UMC Palisades, North Bergen
• Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Hackettstown
• Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County, Willingboro
• Memorial Hospital of Salem County, Salem
• Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, Lakewood
• 2016Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark
• Overlook Medical Center, Summit
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Old Bridge, Old Bridge
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Perth Amboy, Perth Amboy
• Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick
• 2016Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, Hamilton
• Southern Ocean Medical Center, Manahawkin
• St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital, Wayne
• St. Luke's Warren Campus, Phillipsburg
• St. Mary's General Hospital, Passaic
• Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth
• University Hospital, Newark

D

• Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center, Secaucus

F

• Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark

The Leapfrog Group also conducted an analysis with researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine's Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. They estimated that 206,021 avoidable deaths occur each year in U.S. hospitals.

The analysis estimates that 33,459 lives could be saved if every hospital improved their safety record to A standards. Still, the study estimates 43,903 avoidable deaths in A hospitals each year.

Leapfrog releases its rankings twice a year.

“It is time for every hospital in America to put patient safety at the top of their priority list, because tens of thousands of lives are stake,” Leapfrog President Leah Binder said in a press release. “The Hospital Safety Score alerts consumers to the dangers, but as this analysis shows, even A hospitals are not perfectly safe.”