3 Rhode Island Hospitals Earn ‘A’ Grades In New Hospital Safety Ranking

A new hospital safety report released Wednesday shows that three hospitals in Rhode Island earned “A” grades for their ability to protect patients from often preventable harm.

The Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2026 Hospital Safety Grades are a biannual ranking that assigns “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” letter grades to all general hospitals in the United States based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections.

“A” hospitals in YOURSTATE are:

• The Miriam Hospital in Providence
• Rhode Island Hospital in Providence
• Westerly Hospital in Westerly

“B” hospitals are:

• Kent Hospital in Warwick
• Newport Hospital in Newport

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Rhode Island ranks 18th among all states for the percentage of hospitals receiving “A” grades in the spring 2026 report card.

Leapfrog said its biannual report — the only national ratings program focused exclusively on patient safety — shows improvement in 17 measures, including health care-associated infections, medication safety systems and patient experience.

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“The good news is that hospitals across the country are making meaningful strides in patient safety and helping save countless lives,” Leah Binder, the group’s president and CEO, said in a news release.

After peaking in fall 2022, several health care-associated infections declined sharply, according to the report. Central line-associated bloodstream infections fell by half; catheter-associated urinary tract infections dropped 45%; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections declined 42%; and serious intestinal infections linked to antibiotic use went down 30%.

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The report also found gains in medication safety. Use of computerized physician order entry systems, which can flag prescribing errors, rose from 66% of hospitals meeting Leapfrog standards in 2018 to 90% in 2025. Adoption of barcode medication administration systems increased from 47% to 93% over the same period.

Patient experience scores, measured through Medicare and other federal surveys, have improved since hitting a low in fall 2023, rising by about one point on average across five safety-related measures, including communication with nurses and doctors and responsiveness of hospital staff.

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Among states, Connecticut, Virginia and South Carolina had the highest share of A-rated hospitals, followed by Utah, Montana, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and California. Montana and Maryland entered the top 10 for the first time, while Florida rose from 15th place in fall 2025 to seventh. No hospitals in North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont or Wyoming received an A grade.

About 450 hospitals were not assigned grades after a federal court ruling in South Florida involving several facilities that did not participate in Leapfrog’s 2024 or 2025 survey. The group said it applied the change nationwide and is appealing the decision while reviewing its methodology.

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