Southampton Hospital Graded 'C' In Safety Ranking Report

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Southampton Hospital was graded a "C" on a recent patient safety rating report — a decrease from the last marking period.

It's also a drop for Southampton Hospital, which received a "B" in the fall report.

"Patient safety has always been and continues to be among the highest of priorities for the entire Southampton Hospital family including our Board of Trustees, administrators, physicians, nurses, employees and volunteers. We continuously look for ways to make Southampton Hospital the safest and most customer friendly provider of high quality health care for the communities of the South Fork," said Steven Bernstein, president of the Southampton Hospital Foundation, in 2016.

New grades were released Wednesday by The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit founded by employers and healthcare providers.

The group ranked 21 Long Island hospitals as part of its spring 2017 safety grades.

The hospitals were given a letter grade from A through F based on several factors. Of the 21 Long Island hospitals that were graded, two received an A.

Peconic Bay Medical Center also garnered a "C" grade, while Eastern Long Island Hospital earned an "A."

None received an F, but there was one that was graded a D.

To come up with the grades, Leapfrog looks at medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections. The goal is to determine what a patient's risk of further injury or infection is if they visit a certain hospital. Military and veterans' hospitals did not receive a hospital safety score since these hospital publicly report on safety differently than other hospitals.

According to the organization, more than 1,000 Americans die each day from preventable hospital errors.

Hospitals given a B rating by Leapfrog had a 9 percent higher risk of avoidable death than A hospitals. That number jumps to 35 percent in C hospitals and 50 percent higher in D and F hospitals.

New York was ranked 43rd in the nation, which is an improvement from spring and fall 2016 rankings.

Overall, 139 New York hospitals were graded and only 14, or 10 percent, received an A rating.

The top-ranked state was Maine while Hawaii, Oregon, Wisconsin and Idaho rounded out the top five.

Here are the grades the Long Island hospitals received. (Visit the full list to learn more about individual rankings.)

A

• Eastern Long Island Hospital
• St. Francis Hospital

B

• North Shore University Hospital
• St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center
• St. Charles Hospital

C

• Glen Cove Hospital
• Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center
• Huntington Hospital
• John T. Mather Memorial Hospital
• Long Island Jewish Medical Center
• Mercy Medical Center
• Nassau University Medical Center
• Peconic Bay Medical Center
• Plainview Hospital
• Southampton Hospital
• South Nassau Communities Hospital
• St. Joseph Hospital
• Stony Brook University Hospital
• Syosset Hospital
• Winthrop-University Hospital

D

• Southside Hospital

Patch reporter Kara Seymor contributed to this report

File photo.