New PA Hospital Safety Ratings Released: See Best, Worst

PENNSYLVANIA — More than 40 Pennsylvania hospitals received top grades in protecting patient safety, even as the average risk of contracting deadly infections remained elevated nationwide after spiking to a five-year high during the pandemic, according to the spring 2023 hospital safety grades released Wednesday by The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog.

Patient experience measures — like communication from doctors — also declined, according to the report. Leapfrog said the findings should be a wake-up call to hospitals nationwide.

The Leapfrog Group uses an academic grading scale with five letter grades to score nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide on more than 30 measures of patient safety. Leapfrog says its hospital rating system is the only one in the country focusing solely on a hospital’s ability to protect patients from preventable errors.

Pennsylvania had the fourth-most hospitals receiving an “A” grade in the nation, compared to last fall when Pennsylvania had the ninth-most receiving the top grade.

In the state, 45 hospitals received an A, 17 hospitals received a B, 15 hospitals received a C and two hospitals received a D grade. Zero hospitals received an F.

Here are the ratings, according to Leapfrog:

A

• St. Luke's Hospital - Allentown Campus
• Geisinger Medical Center
• Temple University Hospital - Main Campus
• St. Luke's Upper Bucks Hospital
• Geisinger Lewistown Hospital
• St. Luke's University Hospital - Bethlehem Campus
• Allegheny General Hospital
• UPMC Hamot
• WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital
• UPMC Harrisburg
• UPMC Community
• Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center
• Holy Redeemer Hospital and Medical Center
• Lancaster General Hospital
• UPMC Memorial
• UPMC ST MARGARET
• UPMC PASSAVANT
• Einstein Medical Center Montgomery
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
• Jefferson Frankford
• Jefferson Torresdale
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest
• Wellspan Waynesboro Hospital
• Main Line Health-Bryn Mawr Hospital
• Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia
• WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital
• Main Line Health-Paoli Hospital
• St. Luke's Easton Hospital
• UPMC Shadyside
• Chester County Hospital
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Hazleton
• Main Line Health-Lankenau Medical Center
• St. Luke's Sacred Heart Campus
• Doylestown Hospital
• Main Line Health-Riddle Hospital
• Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
• Pennsylvania Hospital
• St. Clair Hospital
• Jefferson Abington Hospital
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Muhlenberg
• St. Luke's Hospital - Anderson Campus
• UPMC East
• St. Luke's Monroe Campus
• Geisinger St. Luke's Hospital
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania – Cedar Avenue

B

• Jefferson Lansdale Hospital
• WellSpan York Hospital
• UPMC Lititz
• Lower Bucks Hospital
• Temple University Hospital Jeanes Campus
• Suburban Community Hospital
• Jefferson Bucks
• Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital - Methodist Hospital Campus
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Pocono
• Latrobe Hospital
• WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital
• UPMC Hanover
• Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
• AHN Grove City
• Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center

C

• Geisinger Community Medical Center
• Chestnut Hill Hospital
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Schuylkill
• Reading Hospital
• Grand View Health
• Moses Taylor Hospital
• Pottstown Hospital
• Phoenixville Hospital
• Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital
• Indiana Regional Medical Center
• Nazareth Hospital
• Excela Health Frick Hospital
• Regional Hospital of Scranton
• St. Mary Medical Center
• Roxborough Memorial Hospital

D

• Crozer-Chester Medical Center
• Taylor Hospital

F

• None

High rates of three health care-associated infections, or HAIs, “should stop hospitals in their tracks,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a news release, noting that “infections like these can be life for death for some patients.”

“We recognize the tremendous strain the pandemic put on hospitals and their workforce, but alarming findings like these indicate hospitals must recommit to patient safety and build more resilience,” Binder said.

The problematic infections are Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA; central line-associated bloodstream infections, or CLABSI; and catheter-associated urinary tract infections, or CAUTI. When compared to rankings that covered the period immediately before the COVID-19 outbreak, the analysis found an increased infection ratio for all three infections. The spring 2023 rankings cover late 2021 and 2022.

However, another such infection, Clostridioides difficile, or C.Diff, improved and there was no significant change for surgical site infections post surgery, the report said. The standardized infection ratio used to measure changes in the rates of infections compares the actual number of reported infections to the predicted number at each hospital.

“Not only are HAIs among the leading causes of death in the U.S., they also increase length of hospitalization stays and add to costs,” Binder said. “Our pre-pandemic data showed improved HAI measures, but the spring 2023 Safety Grade data spotlights how hospital responses to the pandemic led to a decline in patient safety and HAI management.”

Patient experience measures included communication with nurses and doctors, staff responsiveness, and communication about medicine and discharge information. Nationally, the average of all five measures declined when compared to pre-pandemic measures, according to the report.

Patch's national desk contributed to this report.