8 PA Hospitals Get 'D' Grade For Patient Safety, Nonprofit Says

A new analysis on hospital safety in Pennsylvania was released Thursday. The Leapfrog Group, which assesses hospital safety across the country and publishes its findings in the form of letter grades twice a year, released its Fall 2018 safety ratings.

In Pennsylvania:

• 50 hospitals received an A grade
• 27 hospitals received a B grade
• 46 hospitals received a C grade
• 8 hospitals received a D grade

(See detailed list below)

The Leapfrog Group explains that its rating system is focused entirely on errors, accidents, injuries and infections. Leapfrog says more than two-dozen evidence-based measures of patient safety are used to calculate the grades. Applying that information, a numerical score is then created and converted into one of five letter grades.

The hospital safety grades are released by the nonprofit group in the spring and in the fall. The number of hospitals in Pennsylvania that received a D grade is up from the last ratings.

In the Spring 2018 assessment, there were five Pennsylvania hospitals with a D. But more hospitals received A grades this time as well. In the spring grades, 37 hospitals got an A, which is 13 lower than the most recent assessment.

The nonprofit group found that of the more than 2,600 hospitals graded in the country, 32 percent earned an A.

New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, Massachusetts and Texas had the highest percentage of hospitals that received an A grade. The states with the lowest percentage of hospitals that received an A grade are Connecticut, Nebraska, Washington D.C., Delaware and North Dakota, according to Leapfrog. Washington D.C., Delaware and North Dakota did not have a single hospital that received an A grade.

Here is the Leapfrog Group's Fall 2018 grades for Pennsylvania hospitals:

A

• Abington Heath Lansdale Hospital, Lansdale (A)
• Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington (A)
• Bryn Mawr Hospital, Bryn Mawr (A)
• Chambersburg Hospital, Chambersburg (A)
• Conemaugh Nason Medical Center, Roaring Spring (A)
• DLP Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown (A)
• Doylestown Hospital, Doylestown (A)
• Easton Hospital, Easton (A)
• Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital, Bloomsburg (A)
• Geisinger Lewistown Hospital, Lewistown (A)
• Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Wilkes-Barre (A)
• Grand View Health, Sellersville (A)
• Heritage Valley Sewickley, Sewickley (A)
• J. C. Blair Memorial Hospital, Huntingdon (A)
• Jeanes Hospital, Philadelphia (A)
• Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster (A)
• Latrobe Hospital, Latrobe (A)
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest, Allentown (A)
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Hazleton, Hazleton (A)
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Muhlenberg, Bethlehem (A)
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Pocono, East Stroudsburg (A)
• Meadville Medical Center, Meadville (A)
• Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, Darby (A)
• Mercy Philadelphia Hospital, Philadelphia (A)
• Monongahela Valley Hospital, Monongahela (A)
• Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey (A)
• Reading Hospital, West Reading (A)
• Roxborough Memorial Hospital, Philadelphia (A)
• St Joseph Regional Health Network, Reading (A)
• St. Clair Hospital, Pittsburgh (A)
• St. Luke's Hospital - Allentown Campus, Allentown (A)
• St. Luke's Hospital - Anderson Campus, Easton (A)
• St. Luke's University Hospital - Bethlehem Campus, Bethlehem (A)
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital - Methodist Hospital Campus, Philadelphia
• UPMC East, Monroeville (A)
• UPMC Altoona, Altoona (A)
• UPMC Bedford Memorial, Everett (A)
• UPMC Hamot, Erie (A)
• UPMC Horizon - Shenango Valley Campus, Farrell (A)
• UPMC McKeesport, McKeesport (A)
• UPMC Northwest, Seneca (A)
• UPMC Passavant, Pittsburgh (A)
• UPMC Passavant - Cranberry, Cranberry Township (A)
• UPMC Pinnacle Carlisle, Carlisle (A)
• UPMC Pinnacle Community Osteopathic, Harrisburg (A)
• UPMC Pinnacle Harrisburg, Harrisburg (A)
• UPMC Pinnacle Lititz, Lititz (A)
• UPMC Pinnacle West Shore Hospital, Mechanicsburg (A)
• UPMC Presbyterian, Pittsburgh (A)
• Wayne Memorial Hospital, Honesdale (A)

B

• Chester County Hospital, West Chester (B)
• Clarion Hospital, Clarion (B)
• Delaware County Memorial Hospital (B)
• Geisinger Community Medical Center, Scranton (B)
• Geisinger Medical Center, Danville (B)
• Grove City Medical Center, Grove City (B)
• Hahnemann University Hospital, Philadelphia (B)
• Heritage Valley Beaver, Beaver (B)
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (B)
• Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Jefferson Hills (B)
• Jefferson Torresdale, Philadelphia (B)
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Schuylkill Medical Center S. Jackson Street, Pottsville (B)
• Mercy Health System- Nazareth Hospital, Philadelphia (B)
• Mount Nittany Medical Center, State College (B)
• Paoli Hospital, Paoli (B)
• Punxsutawney Area Hospital, Punxsutawney (B)
• Sharon Regional Medical Center, Sharon (B)
• St. Luke's Hospital - Miners Campus (B)
• Suburban Community Hospital, East Norriton (B)
• Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia (B)
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia (B)
• UPMC Horizon - Greenville Campus, Greenville (B)
• UPMC Mercy, Pittsburgh (B)
• UPMC Shadyside, Pittsburgh (B)
• UPMC St. Margaret, Pittsburgh (B)
• Westmoreland Hospital, Greensburg (B)
• Williamsport Regional Medical Center, Williamsport (B)

C

• ACMH Hospital, Kittanning (C)
• Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh (C)
• Allegheny Valley Hospital, Natrona Heights (C)
• Bradford Regional Medical Center, Bradford (C)
• Brandywine Hospital, Coatesville (C)
• Butler Memorial Hospital, Butler (C)
• Canonsburg General Hospital, Canonsburg (C)
• Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber, Windber (C)
• Crozer Chester Medical Center, Upland (C)
• Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, East Norriton (C)
• Forbes Hospital, Monroeville (C)
• Geisinger Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill (C)
• Geisinger Shamokin Area Community Hospital, Coal Township (C)
• Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre (C)
• Holy Redeemer Hospital and Medical Center, Meadowbrook (C)
• Indiana Regional Medical Center, Indiana (C)
• Jefferson Bucks, Langhorne (C)
• Jefferson Frankford, Philadelphia (C)
• Jennersville Hospital, West Grove (C)
• Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood (C)
• Lower Bucks Hospital, Bristol (C)
• Moses Taylor Hospital, Scranton (C)
• Ohio Valley General Hospital, Mckees Rocks (C)
• Penn Highlands DuBois, DuBois (C)
• Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia (C)
• Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia (C)
• Phoenixville Hospital, Phoenixville (C)
• Pottstown Hospital, Pottstown (C)
• Regional Hospital of Scranton, Scranton (C)
• Riddle Hospital, Media (C)
• Saint Vincent Hospital, Erie (C)
• Springfield Hospital, Springfield (C)
• St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital, Quakertown (C)
• St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne (C)
• Taylor Hospital, Ridley Park (C)
• Uniontown Hospital, Uniontown (C)
• UPMC Jameson, New Castle (C)
• UPMC Pinnacle Memorial, York (C)
• Warren General Hospital, Warren (C)
• Washington Hospital, Washington (C)
• WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital, Ephrata (C)
• WellSpan Gettysburg, Gettysburg (C)
• WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital, Lebanon (C)
• WellSpan York Hospital, York (C)
• West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh (C)
• Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Wilkes-Barre (C)

D

• Einstein Medical Center Elkins Park, Elkins Park (D)
• Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia (D)
• Lehigh Valley Hospital- Schuylkill Medical Center E. Norwegian Street, Pottsville (D)
• Somerset Hospital, Somerset (D)
• St. Luke's Gnaden Huetten Campus, Lehighton (D)
• St. Luke's Palmerton Campus, Palmerton (D)
• UPMC Pinnacle Hanover, Hanover (D)
• UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster, Lancaster (D)

“Health care was an important issue in the 2018 midterm elections, yet both parties are still neglecting the third leading cause of death in America—errors and infections in hospitals,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a press release. “Every elected official, from city councilors, to senators, to the President, should hold hospitals accountable and support efforts to improve patient safety.”

Leapfrog assigns A,B,C,D and F letter grades to general acute-care hospitals in the United States. Leapfrog explains that the safety grade includes 28 measures that are taken together to “produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.”

The group uses performance measures from a variety of sources, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (You can read more about the letter grades here.)

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