Community Medical Center Gets 'B' In Nonprofit's Safety Ratings

TOMS RIVER, NJ — In a bi-yearly check on hospital safety, Community Medical Center in Toms River has received a "B" from a national nonprofit that analyzes safety data.

The Leapfrog Group released its bi-yearly hospital safety grades this week, finding that hospitals overall have improved in reducing the number of avoidable deaths due to medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections, which collectively are the third leading cause of death in America.

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."

Community Medical Center received positive ratings on practices to prevent errors, safety problems, and infections, with the exception of MRSA infections. It received mixed ratings on problems with surgery, with accidental cuts and tears, splitting open of surgical wounds and deaths from serious treatable complications all receiving "below average" scores. Communication issues were cited in two categories.

Nearby, Ocean Medical Center in Brick and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin received B grades, while Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch received A grades. There was no grade or information for Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, formerly known as Kimball Medical Center.

"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. 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.

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