Hospital Safety Grades: The Best — And Worst — In Ohio

CLEVELAND, OH — A nationwide hospital safety analysis has found that ___ hospitals in Ohio received an “A” grade for preventing medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections, which collectively are the third leading cause of death in America. On the flip side, __ hospitals received a “D” or worse.

The Leapfrog Group released its bi-yearly hospital safety grades on Tuesday, finding that hospitals overall have improved in reducing the number of avoidable deaths. 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.”

“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.

Here are the full list of hospital grades:

1. Atrium Medical Center, Middletown: A
2. Bethesda Butler Hospital, Hamilton: A
3. Bethesda North Hospital, Cincinnati: A
4. Blanchard Valley Hospital, Findlay: A
5. Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland: A
6. Euclid Hospital, Euclid: A
7. Fairview Hospital, Cleveland: A
8. Hillcrest Hospital, Mayfield Heights: A
9. Medina General Hospital, Medina: A
10. South Pointe Hospital, Warrensville Heights: A
11. Coshocton County Memorial Hospital, Coshocton: A
12. Doctors Hospital of Columbus, Columbus: A
13. Dublin Methodist Hospital, Dublin: A
14. East Liverpool City Hospital, East Liverpool: A
15. Firelands Regional Medical Center — Main Campus, Sandusy: A
16. Fort Hamilton Hospital, Hamilton: A
17. Good Samaritan Hospital of Cincinnati, Cincinnati: A
18. Grady Memorial Hospital, Delaware: A
19. Jewish Hospital, Cincinnati: A
20. Kettering Health Network — Kettering Medical Center, Kettering: A
21. Licking Memorial Hospital, Newark: A
22. Mary Rutan Hospital, Bellefontaine: A
23. Anderson Hospital, Cincinnati: A
24. Lorain Hospital, Lorain: A
25. St. Anne Hospital, Toledo: A
26. West Hospital, Cincinnati: A
27. Clermont Hospital, Batavia: A
28. Mercy Hospital Fairfield, Fairfield: A
29. Mount Carmel St. Ann's Hospital, Westerville: A
30. Marion General Hospital, Marion: A
31. Mansfield Hospital, Mansfield: A
32. ProMedica Bay Park Hospital, Oregon: A
33. ProMedica Memorial Hospital, Fremont: A
34. Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus: A
35. Southeastern Ohio Regional Medical Center, Cambridge: A
36. Southwest General Hospital, Middleburg Heights: A
37. St. John Medical Center, Westlake: A
38. St. Rita's Medical Center, Lima: A
39. The Christ Hospital, Cincinnati: A
40. The Ohio State University Hospital East, Columbus: A
41. The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus: A
42. University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland: A
43. University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center, Chardon: A
44. Western Reserve Hospital, Cuyahoga Falls: A
45. Wilson Health, Sidney: A
46. Adena Regional Medical Center, Chillicothe: B
47. Alliance Community Hospital, Alliance: B
48. Ashtabula County Medical Center, Ashtabula: B
49. Marymount Hospital, Garfield Heights: B
50. Fairfield Medical Center, Lancaster: B
51. Grant Medical Center, Columbus: B
52. Grandview Medical Center, Dayton: B
53. Sycamore Medical Center, Miamisburg: B
54. Knox Community Hospital, Mount Vernon: B
55. St. Charles Hospital, Oregon: B
56. Mercy Medical Center, Canton: B
57. Mount Carmel East Hospital, Columbus: B
58. Southern Ohio Medical Center, Portsmouth: B
59. Southview Hospital, Dayton: B
60. St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital, Boardman: B
61. St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown: B
62. St. Luke's Hospital, Maumee: B
63. St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, Cleveland: B
64. The Bellevue Hospital, Bellevue: B
65. Union Hospital, Dover: B
66. University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center, Beachwood: B
67. Upper Valley Medical Center, Troy: B
68. West Chester Hospital, West Chester: B
69. Aultman Hospital, Canton: C
70. Berger Health System, Circleville: C
71. Akron General Medical Center, Akron: C
72. Lutheran Hospital, Cleveland: C
73. East Ohio Regional Hospital, Martins Ferry: C
74. Genesis Hospital, Zanesville: C
75. Holzer Gallipolis, Gallipolis: C
76. Joint Township District Memorial Hospital, St. Marys: C
77. Lake Health TriPoint Medical Center, Concord Township: C
78. Lake Health West Medical Center, Willoughby: C
79. Lima Memorial Health System, Lima: C
80. Mercer County Community Hospital — Coldwater, Coldwater: C
81. St. Vincent Medical Center, Toledo: C
82. MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland: C
83. Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton: C
84. Mount Carmel West Hospital, Columbus: C
85. Northside Regional Medical Center, Youngstown: C
86. ProMedica Flower Hospital, Sylvania: C
87. ProMedica Toledo Hospital, Toledo: C
88. Salem Regional Medical Center, Salem: C
89. Soin Medical Center, Beavercreek: C
90. Springfield Regional Medical Center, Springfield: C
91. St. Joseph Warren Hospital, Warren: C
92. St. Thomas Hospital, Akron: C
93. Summa Health System, Akron Campus, Akron: C
94. Summa Health System, Barberton Campus, Barberton: C
95. UC Health — University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati: C
96. UH Portage Medical Center, Ravenna: C
97. Bedford Medical Center, Bedford: C
98. Elyria Medical Center, Elyria: C
99. Parma Medical Center, Parma: C
100. Richmond Medical Center, Richmond Heights: C
101. Wayne HealthCare, Grennville: C
102. Wood County Hospital, Bowling Green: C
103. Marietta Memorial Hospital, Marietta: D
104. Trinity Medical Center West, Steubenville: D
105. Trumbull Memorial Hospital, Warren: D
106. University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo: D

Among the findings nationally, five hospitals that received an “A” grade for the first time this year previously received an “F” grade, the group said, and 46 hospitals earned an “A” for the first time since the grading system began six years ago.

Leapfrog said its analysis showed 89 hospitals that had previously received “D” or “F” ratings had improved to an “A” this year.

Rhode Island, Hawaii, Wisconsin and Idaho all previously ranked near the bottom of the state rankings with low percentages of “A” hospitals, but now all rank in the top 10.

Here are some of the other findings:

• The five states with the highest percentage of “A” hospitals this spring are Hawaii, Idaho, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia
• Ten states have hospitals with “F” grades are California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York

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.

Photo from Shutterstock