New Jersey Hospital Safety Grades Released For Fall 2018

Thirty-eight New Jersey hospitals received an A grade in hospital safety in the new Fall 2018 ratings released Thursday. One hospital actually got an F, and another got a D.

The A grades accounted for 56 percent of the state's hospitals - the highest percentage in the country - and a 23 percent increase from the spring rankings.

Sixteen New Jersey hospitals received a B, while 11 received a C, according to the rankings.

The Leapfrog Group, which released the report, explains that its rating system is focused entirely on errors, accidents, injuries and infections. The hospital safety grades are released by the nonprofit group twice a year, in the spring and in the fall.

Here are the grades New Jersey hospitals that were given by the Leapfrog Group:

A grades

• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center - City Campus, Atlantic City
• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center-Mainland Campus, Pomona
• Bayshore Medical Center, Holmdel
• Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell, Pennington
• CarePoint Health-Bayonne Medical Center, Bayonne
• Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains
• Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville
• Community Medical Center of Toms River, Toms River
• Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack
• Inspira Medical Center Elmer, Elmer
• Inspira Medical Center Woodbury, Woodbury
• Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital, Cherry Hill
• Jefferson Stratford Hospital, Stratford
• Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune
• JFK Medical Center, Edison
• Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch
• Morristown Medical Center, Morristown
• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark
• Ocean Medical Center, Brick
• Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden
• Overlook Medical Center, Summit
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Perth Amboy, Perth Amboy
• Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, Hamilton
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, Somerville
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston
• Saint Clare's Hospital of Denville, Denville
• Saint Clare's Hospital of Dover, Dover
• Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark
• Shore Medical Center, Somers Point
• Southern Ocean Medical Center, Manahawkin
• St. Joseph's University Medical Center, Paterson
• St. Mary's General Hospital, Passaic,
• The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood
• University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, Plainsboro
• Virtua Marlton Hospital, Marlton
• Virtua Voorhees Hospital, Voorhees

B grades

• Cape Regional Medical Center, Cape May Court House
• Carepoint Health-Hoboken University Medical Center, Hoboken
• CentraState Medical Center, Freehold
• Cooper University Hospital, Camden
• Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood
• Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Hackettstown
• Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck
• Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington
• Inspira Medical Center Vineland, Vineland
• Jefferson Washington Township Hospital, Turnersville
• Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County, Willingboro
• Newton Medical Center, Newton
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Old Bridge, Old Bridge
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick
• Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick,
• St. Francis Medical Center of Trenton, Trenton

C grades

• Capital Health Regional Medical Center, Trenton
• CarePoint Health-Christ Hospital, Jersey City
• Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center, Montclair
• Hackensack University Medical Center at Pascack Valley, Westwood
• HackensackUMC Palisades, North Bergen
• Memorial Hospital of Salem County, Salem
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway, Rahway
• St. Joseph's Wayne Medical Center, Wayne
• St. Luke's Warren Campus, Phillipsburg
• Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth
• Virtua Memorial Hospital, Mount Holly

D grades

• University Hospital, Newark

F grades

• East Orange General Hospital, East Orange, NJ 07018

The nonprofit group found that of the more than 2,600 hospitals graded in the country, 32 percent earned an A grade.

New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, Massachusetts and Texas had the highest percentage of hospitals that received an A grade. The states with the lowest percentage of hospitals that received an A grade are Connecticut, Nebraska, Washington D.C., Delaware and North Dakota, according to Leapfrog. Washington D.C., Delaware and North Dakota did not have a single hospital that received an A grade.

"Health care was an important issue in the 2018 midterm elections, yet both parties are still neglecting the third leading cause of death in America—errors and infections in hospitals," Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a press release. "Every elected official, from city councilors, to senators, to the President, should hold hospitals accountable and support efforts to improve patient safety."

Leapfrog assigns A,B,C,D and F letter grades to general acute-care hospitals in the United States. Leapfrog explains that the safety grade includes 28 measures that are taken together to "produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors."

The group uses performance measures from a variety of sources, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (You can read more about the letter grades here.)

Google photo of Atlanticare Regional Medical Center - City Campus, Atlantic City