Hospital Safety Study: How Did St. John Do?

WESTLAKE, OH - St. John Medical Center is one of Ohio's safest hospitals for patients according to a new report from the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit composed of healthcare employers and staffers.

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.

In the Infections category, St. John scored highly in four of the five tracked procedures. The MRSA infection rate is low in the hospital, as are blood infections and urinary tract infections during stays in the ICU, and infections at the surgical site after colon surgery.

The one area of the Infections category that St. John needs to improve, according to the study, was its C. diff infection rate. According to Leapfrog, the rate of C.diff infections at St. John is .964. The average hospital's C. diff infection rate is .893.

St. John's also scored well in the Problems With Surgery, Practices to Prevent Errors, Safety Problems, and Doctors, Nurses, and Hospital Staff categories. You can see all of St. John's scores by clicking here.

Of the 112 Ohio hospitals that were rated, 49 received an A. Roughly 44 percent of Ohio hospitals received an A grade. Only one hospital in Ohio, Mercy Regional Medical Center of Lorain got an F grade, the worst possible.

Maine was ranked No. 1. Hawaii, Oregon, Wisconsin and Idaho rounded out the top five. To come up with the grades, Leapfrog looks at medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections. The hospitals were giving a letter grade from A through F based on several factors. The goal is to determine what a patient's risk of further injury or infection is if they visit a certain hospital.

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.

Here are the grades for all 112 of Ohio's ranked hospitals.

A

• Bethesda Butler Hospital
• Bethesda North Hospital
• Blanchard Valley Regional Health Center
• CHWC Archbold Hospital & Medical Center
• CHWC Bryan Hospital
• Cleveland Clinic Foundation
• Cleveland Clinic - Euclid
• Cleveland Clinic - Fairview
• Cleveland Clinic - Hillcrest
• Cleveland Clinic - Lutheran
• Cleveland Clinic - Marymount
• Cleveland Clinic - Medina
• Coshocton County Memorial Hospital
• Dublin Methodist Hospital
• Fisher-Titus Medical Center
• Fort Hamilton Hospital
• Genesis Hospital
• Grady Memorial Hospital
• Kettering Health Network - Grandview Medical Center
• Kettering Health Network - Greene Memorial Hospital
• Kettering Health Network - Sycamore Medical Center
• Knox Community Hospital
• Licking Memorial Hospital
• McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital
• Memorial Health
• Mercy Hospital of Defiance
• Ohio Health - Marion General Hospital
• Ohio Health - Mansfield Hospital
• ProMedica Bay Park Hospital
• ProMedica Flower Hospital
• ProMedica Memorial Hospital
• Samaritan Hospital
• Southeastern Ohio Regional Hospital
• Southview Hospital
• Southwest General Health Center
• St John Medical Center
• St. Vincent Charity Medical Center
• The Bellevue Hospital
• The Christ Hospital
• The Ohio State University Hospital East
• The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
• University Hospitals Case Medical Center
• University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center
• Upper Valley Medical Center
• West Chester Hospital
• Western Reserve Hospital
• Wilson Memorial Hospital
• Wood County Hospital
• Wooster Community Hospital

B

• Adena Regional Medical Center
• Atrium Medical Center
• Aultman Hospital
• Cleveland Clinic - South Pointe Hospital
• Doctors Hospital of Columbus
• East Liverpool City Hospital
• Fairfield Medical Center
• Grant Medical Center
• Joint Township District Memorial Hospital
• Kettering Health Network - Kettering Medical Center
• Lake Health TriPoint Medical Center
• Lake Health West Medical Center
• Mercer County Joint Township Community Hospital
• Mount Carmel East Hospital
• Mount Carmel St. Ann's Hospital
• Promedica Toledo Hospital
• Riverside Methodist Hospital
• Soin Medical Center
• Southern Ohio Medical Center
• St. Joseph Health Center
• Trinity Medical Center - East
• Union Hospital
• University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center

C

• Alliance Community Hospital
• Ashatabula County Medical Center
• Berger Health System
• Clinton Memorial Hospital
• East Ohio Regional Hospital
• Firelands Regional Medical Center - Main Campus
• Good Samaritan Hospital & Health Center
• Good Samaritan Hospital of Cincinnati
• Holzer Gallipolis
• Lima Memorial Health System
• Marietta Memorial Hospital
• Mary Rutan Hospital
• Mercy Health - St. Vincent Medical Center
• Mercy Health - St. Anne Hospital
• Mercy Health - St. Charles Hospital
• Mercy Medical Center
• MetroHealth Medical Center
• Miami Valley Hospital
• Mount Carmel West Hospital
• Northside Medical Center
• Salem Regional Medical Center
• Springfield Regional Medical Center
• St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital
• St. Elizabeth Health Center
• St. Luke's Hospital
• St. Thomas Hospital
• Summa - Akron City Hospital
• Trumbull Memorial Hospital
• UC Health - University of Cincinnati Medical Center
• University Hospitals Bedford Medical Center
• University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center
• University Hospitals Parma Medical Center
• University Hospitals Richmond Medical Center
• Van Wert County Hospital
• Wayne Hospital

D

• Akron General Medical Center
• St. Rita's Medical Center
• UH Portage Medical Center
• University of Toledo Medical Center

F

• Mercy Regional Medical Center of Lorain

Photo from Shutterstock
Kara Seymour, Patch contributed to this report