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

The nonprofit watchdog group Leapfrog has released its bi-annual hospital safety grades, expanding the list of those with a D rating in Pennsylvania from three to five. In the latest batch of rankings, which were released Tuesday, 37 Pennsylvania hospitals received an A grade. That's down from 38 that were given the top honor during the previous rankings last fall.

Leapfrog, which has been doing these safety rankings since 2001, says the aim is to help patients determine their risk of further injury or infection if they visit a certain hospital.

In addition to the 37 in Pennsylvania that achieved an A, there were 34 that received a B on the spring 2018 scorecard. Forty-two hospitals in the Keystone State earned a C.

When it comes the the lowest-ranked hospitals in Pennsylvania, five received a D grade. That's up from three D-ranked hospitals from the previous fall 2017 scores.

No Pennsylvania hospitals received an F grade in the spring 2018 scores.

Leapfrog says 27 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 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. Medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections are taken into account by Leapfrog when calculating the grades.

"Issued twice per year, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade empowers regular people to find a safer hospital in their community by using the easy-to-understand A, B, C, D, F grading system," Leapfrog explains. You can read more about the letter grades here.

Nationwide, 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.

Here's how Pennsylvania hospitals were graded (click on the hospital name to learn more about the grade):

A

1. Abington Health Lansdale Hospital, Lansdale
2. Bryn Mawr Hospital, Bryn Mawr
3. Chester County Hospital, West Chester
4. DLP Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown
5. Doylestown Hospital, Doylestown
6. Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, East Norriton
7. Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg
8. Geisinger Medical Center, Danville
9. Grand View Health, Sellersville
10. Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre
11. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
12. Jeanes Hospital, Philadelphia
13. Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster
14. Latrobe Hospital, Latrobe
15. Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest, Allentown
16. Lehigh Valley Hospital - Muhlenberg, Bethlehem
17. Lehigh Valley Hospital - Pocono, East Stroudsburg
18. Monongahela Valley Hospital, Monongahela
19. Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia
20. Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey
21. PinnacleHealth Community General Osteopathic Hospital, Harrisburg
22. Reading Hospital, West Reading
23. St. Clair Hospital, Pittsburgh
24. St. Luke's Hospital - Allentown Campus, Allentown
25. St. Luke's Hospital - Anderson Campus, Easton
26. St. Luke's University Hospital - Bethlehem Campus, Bethlehem
27. St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne
28. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia
29. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital - Methodist Hospital Campus, Philadelphia
30. UPMC East, Monroeville
31. UPMC McKeesport, McKeesport
32. UPMC Northwest, Seneca
33. UPMC Passavant - Cranberry, Cranberry
34. UPMC Pinnacle Harrisburg, Harrisburg
35. UPMC Pinnacle Memorial, York
36. UPMC Pinnacle West Shore Hospital, Mechanisburg
37. Williamsport Regional Medical Center, Williamsport

B

1. Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington
2. Aria Health - Bucks County Division, Langhorne
3. Aria Health - Frankford Division, Philadelphia
4. Aria Health - Torresdale Division, Philadelphia
5. Butler Memorial Hospital, Butler
6. Chambersburg Hospital, Chambersburg
7. Clarion Hospital, Clarion
8. Crozer Chester Medical Center, Upland
9. Geisinger Community Medical Center, Scranton
10. Geisinger Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill
11. Geisinger Lewistown Hospital, Lewistown
12. Geisinger Shamokin Area Community Hospital, Coal Township
13. Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Wilkes-Barre
14. Hahnemann University Hospital, Philadelphia
15. J. C. Blair Memorial Hospital, Huntingdon
16. Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood
17. Lehigh Valley Hospital - Schuylkill Medical Center S. Jackson Street, Pottsville
18. Meadville Medical Center, Meadville
19. Mercy Philadelphia Hospital, Philadelphia
20. Mount Nittany Medical Center, State College
21. Paoli Hospital, Paoli
22. Sacred Heart Hospital, Allentown
23. Saint Vincent Hospital, Erie
24. Uniontown Hospital, Uniontown
25. UPMC Altoona, Altoona
26. UPMC Hamot, Erie
27. UPMC Horizon - Greenville Campus, Greenville
28. UPMC Horizon - Shenango Valley Campus, Farrell
29. UPMC Mercy, Pittsburgh
30. UPMC Passavant, Pittsburgh
31. UPMC Pinnacle Hanover, Hanover
32. UPMC Presbyterian, Pittsburgh
33. Washington Hospital, Washington
34. WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital, Gettysburg

C

1. ACMH Hospital, Kittanning
2. Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh
3. Allegheny Valley Hospital, Natrona Heights
4. Delaware County Memorial Hospital, Drexel Hill
5. Easton Hospital, Easton
6. Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia
7. Einstein Medical Center - Elkins Park, Elkins Park
8. Forbes Hospital, Monroeville
9. Heritage Valley Beaver, Beaver
10. Heritage Valley Sewickley, Sewickley
11. Holy Redeemer Hospital and Medical Center, Meadowbrook
12. Indiana Regional Medical Center, Indiana
13. Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Jefferson Hills
14. Jennersville Hospital, West Grove
15. Lehigh Valley Hospital - Hazleton, Hazleton
16. Lower Bucks Hospital, Bristol
17. Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, Darby
18. Mercy Health System - Nazareth Hospital, Philadelphia
19. Moses Taylor Hospital, Scranton
20. Ohio Valley General Hospital, Mckees Rocks
21. Penn Highlands DuBois, DuBois
22. Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia
23. Phoenixville Hospital, Phoenixville
24. Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, Pottstown
25. Regional Hospital of Scranton, Scranton
26. Riddle Hospital, Media
27. Springfield Hospital, Springfield
28. St Joseph Regional Health Network dba St Joseph Medical Center, Reading
29. Suburban Community Hospital, East Norriton
30. Taylor Hospital, Ridley Park
31. Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia
32. UPMC Jameson, New Castle
33. UPMC Pinnacle Carlisle, Carlisle
34. UPMC Shadyside, Pittsburgh
35. UPMC St. Margaret, Pittsburgh
36. Warren General Hospital, Warren
37. Wayne Memorial Hospital, Honesdale
38. WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital, Ephrata
39. WellSpan York Hospital, York
40. West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh
41. West Penn Hospital, Greensburg
42. Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Wilkes-Barre

D

1. Bradford Regional Medical Center, Bradford
2. Brandywine Hospital, Coatesville
3. Lehigh Valley Hospital - Schuylkill Medical Center E. Norwegian Street, Pottsville
4. UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster, Lancaster
5. Wellspan Good Samaritan Hospital, Lebanon

Click here to compare the Spring 2018 grades with the those issued in Fall 2017.

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