Virginia, DC Hospital Safety Grades 2022: The Best And Worst

VIRGINIA — Forty-two hospitals in Virginia received top marks for patient safety, but others didn’t quite measure up in the Spring 2022 Hospital Safety Grades report released Tuesday by The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog group.

A Washington, D.C., hospital was the only facility in the region to earn an "F" grade.

The 2022 ratings reflect care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Leapfrog Group said its and other groups’ research showed the pandemic reversed years of progress in patient safety.

The pandemic has had a negative effect on “health care delivery at every level and setting, from staffing shortages to increased infections to the very care patients receive,” according to the Adult Patient Experience at Acute Care Hospitals survey, also released Tuesday by The Leapfrog Group.

“The health care workforce has faced unprecedented levels of pressure during the pandemic, and as a result, patients' experience with their care appears to have suffered,” Leapfrog Group president and CEO Leah Binder said in a news release. “We commend the workforce for their heroic efforts these past few years and now strongly urge hospital leadership to recommit to improved care — from communication to responsiveness — and get back on track with patient safety outcomes.”

In Virginia, 42 hospitals received an "A" grade, 15 hospitals received a "B" grade, 11 hospitals received a "C" grade and three hospitals received a "D" grade. No Virginia hospitals received an "F" grade.

In the District of Columbia, no hospitals received "A" or "D" grades, while three facilities earned a "C" grade, and one each scored a "B" and "F" grade.

Here are the rankings, according to Leapfrog:

VIRGINIA

A

• Augusta Health, Fishersville
• Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital, Newport News
• Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital of Richmond, Richmond
• Buchanan General Hospital, Grundy
• Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital, Rocky Mount
• Carilion New River Valley Medical Center, Christiansburg
• CJW Medical Center - Chippenham Campus, Richmond
• CJW Medical Center - Johnston-Willis Campus, Richmond
• Clinch Valley Medical Center, Richlands
• Henrico Doctors' Hospital, Richmond
• Inova Alexandria Hospital, Alexandria
• Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, Fairfax
• Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church
• Inova Loudoun Hospital, Leesburg
• Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Alexandria
• John Randolph Medical Center, Hopewell
• LewisGale Hospital - Alleghany, Low Moor
• LewisGale Hospital - Montgomery, Blacksburg
• LewisGale Hospital - Pulaski, Pulaski
• LewisGale Medical Center, Salem
• Novant Health UVA Health System Culpeper Medical Center, Culpeper
• Novant Health UVA Health System Haymarket Medical Center, Haymarket
• Novant Health UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center, Manassas
• Parham Doctors' Hospital, Richmond
• Reston Hospital Center, Reston
• Retreat Doctors' Hospital, Richmond
• Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital, Onancock
• Riverside Walter Reed Hospital, Gloucester
• Sentara CarePlex Hospital, Hampton
• Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital, South Boston
• Sentara Leigh Hospital, Norfolk
• Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital, Charlottesville
• Sentara Obici Hospital, Suffolk
• Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, Virginia Beach
• Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, Williamsburg
• Smyth County Community Hospital, Marion
• Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, Fredericksburg
• StoneSprings Hospital Center, Dulles
• Twin County Regional Healthcare, Galax
• Virginia Hospital Center--Arlington Health System, Arlington
• Warren Memorial Hospital, Front Royal
• Winchester Medical Center, Winchester

B

• Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Portsmouth
• Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center, Midlothian
• Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, Chesapeake
• Norton Community Hospital, Norton
• Riverside Doctors' Hospital Williamsburg, Williamsburg
• Riverside Regional Medical Center, Newport News
• Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Norfolk
• Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, Woodbridge
• Sentara RMH Medical Center, Harrisonburg
• Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, Virginia Beach
• Southside Regional Medical Center, Petersburg
• Stafford Hospital, Stafford
• University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville
• VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital, Tappahannock
• Wythe County Community Hospital, Wytheville

C

• Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, Mechanicsville
• Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Roanoke
• Centra Bedford Memorial Hospital, Bedford
• Centra Lynchburg General Hospital, Lynchburg
• Centra Southside Community Hospital, Farmville
• Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital, Lynchburg
• Danville Regional Medical Center, Danville
• Johnston Memorial Hospital, Abingdon
• Mary Washington Hospital, Fredericksburg
• VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital, South Hill
• VCU Medical Center Main Hospital, Richmond

D

• Fauquier Hospital, Warrenton
• Southampton Memorial Hospital, Franklin
• Sovah Health Martinsville, Martinsville

F

• No Virginia hospitals received an F grade.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

A

• No DC hospitals received an A grade.

B

• Sibley Memorial Hospital

C

• George Washington University Hospital
• MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
• MedStar Washington Hospital Center

D

• No DC hospitals received a D grade.

F

• Howard University Hospital

The letter grades assigned to nearly 3,000 U.S general hospitals were based 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, accidents, injuries and infections.

Included in the 30 are five that research has shown to directly affect patient outcomes, but can be improved with greater communication between caregivers and patients — the number of central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, infections from colon surgery, MRSA (Staphylococcus) blood laboratory-identified events, and facility-wide inpatient diarrhea events.

When there’s communication about medications, for example, that can lead to fewer hospitalizations for conditions such as sepsis and blood clots, fewer complications, and decreases in the incidence of respiratory failure, Leapfrog said.

Among the findings:

• Thirty-three percent of hospitals received an “A,” 24 percent received a “B,” 36 percent received a “C,” 7 percent received a “D.” and fewer than 1 percent received an “F”.
• The states with the highest percentages of “A” hospitals are North Carolina, Virginia, Utah, Colorado and Michigan.
• There were no “A” hospitals in Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota or the District of Columbia.

To determine each hospital’s grade, a panel of medical experts selected 30 evidence-based measures of patient safety such as postoperative sepsis, blood leakage and kidney injury. They then determined the weight of each measure based on evidence, opportunity for improvement and patient impact.

Data on each measure was collected through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Information from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, available to all hospitals to complete, also affects grades.

Currently, Leapfrog does not assign grades to military or Veterans Administration hospitals, critical access hospitals, specialty hospitals, children’s hospitals or outpatient surgery centers.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade methodology has been peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Patient Safety.

The full methodology for the 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is available online.