The Safest Hospitals In Colo. Springs, Pueblo: Nonprofit

ACROSS COLORADO -- Eighteen Colorado hospitals received an A in hospital safety, according to new grades released by The Leapfrog Group on Tuesday. Of the group, Centura Health-St. Francis Medical Center in Colorado Springs and Centura Health-St. Mary Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo received top scores.

Both Centura Health sites improved from a B grade in Spring of 2017, the group said. No hospital in Colorado received a grade below C.

Centura Health-Penrose Hospital received a B grade, up from a C grade in Spring, 2017. The hospital had a higher-than-average number of MRSA infections reported in 2016. The best hospitals scored zero MRSA infections, while the average U.S. hospitals reported a score of .95. Centura Health Penrose scored 1.361 while the worst hospitals in the study scored 3.610. See the scoring system here.

UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs received a C grade. According to the scoring system, the hospital had more patients who died from "treatable serious complications" during hospitalization than the national average. In this category, the best hospitals scored 70.79, while the average hospitals scored 137.00. UCHealth Memorial Central scored 167.40. The hospital declined to report data on hospital leadership, number of qualified nurses, a patient risk tracking system and hand-washing. See the scoring system here.

Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo also received a C grade. The hospital had a higher than average rate of surgical site infections after colon surgeries, the survey said. Parkview also had a higher than average number of patients who died from treatable serious complications after surgery with a score of 167.40. The hospital had the worst score in the nation for patients suffering "serious breathing problems" after surgery (which can lead to comas or death). In this category, the best hospitals scored 2.13, while the national average score was 13.92. Parkview's score was 29.52. The hospital also declined to respond to questions about hospital leadership, number of qualified nurses, a patient risk tracking system and hand-washing. See the scoring system here.

The hospital safety grades are released by the nonprofit group twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. The grades released on Tuesday showed that five states — Oregon, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Wisconsin and Idaho — showed significant improvement since the safety grades were first implemented in 2012.

"Errors and infections in hospitals are the third leading cause of death in America, and people deserve to know which of their hospitals are best at preventing them," Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, said in a press release.

Medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections are taken into account by Leapfrog when calculating the grades. The goal of the rankings is to determine a patient's risk of further injury or infection if they visit a certain hospital.

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 27 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.)

Here are the Colorado hospitals that received an A:

1. Centura Health-Porter Adventist Hospital, Denver
2. Centura Health-St. Francis Medical Center, Colorado Springs
3. Centura Health-St. Mary Corwin Medical Center, Pueblo
4. Delta County Memorial Hospital, Delta
5. Lutheran Medical Center, Wheat Ridge
6. McKee Medical Center,McKee Medical Center, Loveland
7. Medical Center of Aurora, Aurora
8. Mercy Regional Medical Center, Durango
9. North Colorado Medical Center, Greeley
10. North Suburban Medical Center, Thornton
11. Poudre Valley Hospital, Fort Collins
12. Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Denver
13. Rose Medical Center, Denver
14. Saint Joseph Hospital, Denver
15. Sky Ridge Medical Center, Lone Tree
16. St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center, Grand Junction
17. Swedish Medical Center, Englewood
18. Yampa Valley Medical Center, Steamboat Springs

Click here to see how every Colorado hospital was ranked.

Leapfrog notes that of the 2,632 hospitals graded in Tuesday's update, 832 earned an "A," 662 a "B," 964 a "C," 159 a "D" and 15 an "F."

By Kara Seymour, Patch National Staff

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