Huntington Hospital Gets a 'C' in Safety

The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit founded by employers and health care providers, announced its fall 2016 hospital safety rankings Monday, a measure of how safe a hospital is for patients.

Huntington Hospital earned a "C" in the fall safety rankings, which is a downgrade from its "A" ranking the hospital received in the spring.

The Leapfrog Group uses "30 evidence-based measures of patient safety," including patient injuries, accidents and infections. Numerical scores are converted into letter grades. Of more than 2,600 hospitals graded nationwide, there were 844 "A" grade hospitals and only 20 "F" grade hospitals. Leapfrog is a nonprofit founded by large employers in 2000 to improve health care quality and safety.

At the state level, New York was ranked 46th in the nation. That's down from 44th in the spring 2016 rankings. Hawaii was ranked No. 1; 12 hospitals in the state were ranked, and eight were given an A grade. Idaho, Maine, Wisconsin and North Carolina rounded out the top five.

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

“In the fast-changing health care landscape, patients should be aware that hospitals are not all equally competent at protecting them from injuries and infections," Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder said. "We believe everyone has the right to know which hospitals are the safest and encourage community members to call on their local hospitals to change, and on their elected officials to spur them to action. States that put a priority on safety have shown remarkable improvements.”

Leapfrog ranked 138 New York hospitals. Just one Long Island hospital, St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, received an A grade. Here are the grades Long Island hospitals received: (Visit the full list to learn more about individual rankings.)

A

• St. Francis Hospital, Roslyn

B

• Eastern Long Island Hospital, Greenport
• Southampton Hospital, Southampton
• St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, Smithtown
• St. Charles Hospital, Port Jefferson

C

• Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, West Islip
• Huntington Hospital, Huntington
• John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, Port Jefferson
• Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow
• North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset
• Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park
• Glen Cove Hospital, Glen Cove
• Mercy Medical Center, Rockville Centre
• Peconic Bay Medical Center, Riverhead
• Plainview Hospital, Plainview
• Southside Hospital, Bay Shore
• South Nassau Communities Hospital, Oceanside
• Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook
• Syosset Hospital, Syosset
• Winthrop-University Hospital, Mineola

D

• St. Joseph Hospital, Bethpage

Read more about the rankings and methodology here.

Image via Northwell Health