Toms River's Community Medical Center Receives High Marks For Safety

How safe is your hospital? It’s a question most people ask any time they have to go to a hospital for any kind of medical care.

In New Jersey the answer for most of them -- including Community Medical Center in Toms River -- are very safe.

A report released this week by The Leapfrog Group looks in depth at safety practices of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals, assigning them grades based not only on following best practices but on occurrences of problems.

The Hospital Safety Score assigns A, B, C, D and F grades based on the ability to prevent errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

Community Medical Center received an A, one of 29 New Jersey hospitals (out of 66 in the state) to receive a top score.

The report allows readers to look at how each hospital scored on each of the factors considered, as well as how it scored in previous years.

Community scored high on having enough staffing -- particularly registered nurses -- and its lowest marks related to urinary tract infections and items left behind during surgery.

“At a time when more than 1,000 people die every day from preventable accidents in hospitals, Leapfrog believes that patient safety should be Job No. 1 in every hospital, 24-7. To reinforce that goal of consistent vigilance, we’ve made it easier for patients and others to evaluate a hospital’s previous safety record on the Hospital Safety Score website,” said Leah Binder, Leapfrog president and CEO. “While patients should always reference a hospital’s current grade as the most important indicator of hospital safety, patients may also want to consider the hospital’s past record, to assess whether their hospital is making constant improvements or if the hospital has demonstrated consistent excellence.”

New Jersey’s hospitals fared well as a whole, with just a few receiving less than a B grade. And the state had the fifth-highest percentage of A-graded hospitals in the country. Maine had the highest percentage, with 11 of its 18 hospitals receiving As.

Massachusetts was second, with 32 As among 62 hospitals, with Virginia third with 30 of 62 receiving As. Florida, in fourth place, had 77 A-graded hospitals out of 165.

The three states at the bottom of the rankings had no A-graded hospitals out of the handful in each state: Alaska (5 hospitals total), North Dakota (6) and the District of Columbia (6).