Best And Worst NYC Hospitals For Safety: Fall 2021 Grades

NEW YORK CITY — A national group focused on health care safety has released its fall 2021 hospital safety grades, with most New York City hospitals receiving a "C" or "D" ranking.

These grades come as the COVID-19 pandemic, which has placed immense pressure on the U.S. healthcare system, continues.

Safety grades are released by the nonprofit Leapfrog Group twice per year, in the spring and the fall. The ratings of 2,901 hospitals are "based on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents, injuries, and infections that kill or harm patients," according to The Leapfrog Group. The group said in a news release that is is important for patients to have this information to select a hospital that can safely provide them care.

In this latest ranking, Leapfrog Group added post-operative sepsis, blood leakage, and kidney injury to how it calculates grades. The nonprofit said sepsis kills more than 270,000 people a year, and that Black patients are twice as likely as white patients to be diagnosed with the condition.

The vast majority of New York City hospitals got a "C" or "D" grade.

Two NYU Langone hospitals received an "A" grade, one each in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn and Montefiore Wakefield Campus in the Bronx received an "F" grade.

Nationwide, 32 percent of hospitals received an "A," 26 percent received a "B," 35 percent received a "C," seven percent received a "D," and fewer than one percent received an "F."

Here are the grades New York City hospitals were given by the Leapfrog Group, listed by grade:

"A" Grade

• NYU Langone Hospital (Manhattan)
• NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn

"B" Grade

• Mount Sinai West (Manhattan)
• NYC Health Hospitals - Metropolitan (Manhattan)
• The Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan)
• NYC Health and Hospitals Queens

"C" Grade

• The Brooklyn Hospital Center
• NYC Health and Hospitals Bellevue (Manhattan)
• NYC Health and Hospitals Woodhull (Brooklyn)
• Lenox Hill Hospital (Manhattan)
• Mount Sinai Queens
• Mount Sinai Morningside (Manhattan)
• Richmond University Medical Center (Staten Island)
• NYC Health and Hospitals - Harlem (Manhattan)
• NYC Health and Hospitals - Lincoln (The Bronx)
• New York - Presbyterian Queens
• Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (Queens)
• St. Barnabas Hospital (The Bronx)

"D" Grade

• New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan
• Mount Sinai Beth Israel (Manhattan)
• New York - Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist
• Interfaith Medical Center (Brooklyn)
• New York - Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center (Manhattan)
• Wyckoff Heights Medical Center (Brooklyn)
• Maimonides Medical Center (Brooklyn)
• NYC Health and Hospitals Kings County (Brooklyn)
• SUNY Downstate Medical Center University Hospital of Brooklyn
• Mount Sinai Brooklyn
• New York Community Hospital (Brooklyn)
• Coney Island Hospital (Brooklyn)
• New York - Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (Manhattan)
• Staten Island University Hospital - North Campus (Staten Island)
• BronxCare Health System (The Bronx)
• Flushing Hospital Medical Center (Queens)
• New York - Presbyterian Allen Hospital (Manhattan)
• Montefiore Einstein Campus (The Bronx)
• NYC Health and Hospitals - Jacobi (The Bronx)
• NYC Health and Hospitals North Central Bronx
• Montefiore Moses Campus (The Bronx)

"F" Grade

• Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, Brooklyn
• Montefiore Wakefield Campus (The Bronx)

You can see how NYC hospitals were ranked in the spring by clicking here.

Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said it is "critical that all hospitals put patient safety first" in a news release.

“As the pandemic continues, we all have heightened awareness of the importance of hospitals in our communities and in our lives,” Binder said.

More information on the grading criteria is available here.