NJ Hospital Safety Grades 2021: Best And Worst Amid COVID

NEW JERSEY — Several New Jersey hospitals received top safety marks while others didn’t quite measure up in The Leapfrog Group’s annual spring safety grades released Thursday (see list below).

The nonprofit health care watchdog group grades hospitals twice a year, assigning letter grades from "A" to "F" based on each hospital's ability to protect patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries and infections.

More than 2,700 general, acute-care U.S. hospitals were assessed for Leapfrog’s Spring Safety Grades. Among those hospitals, 27 have achieved 19 consecutive "A" grades in every biannual grading cycle since Leapfrog launched the safety grades in spring 2012.

In New Jersey, out of 68 hospitals graded:

• 26 hospitals received an A grade.
• 26 hospitals received a B grade.
• 15 hospitals received a C grade.
• One hospital received a D grade.
• Zero NJ hospitals received an F grade.

It’s worth noting the hospitals were graded during a time of extraordinary pressure on the health care system due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"This pandemic emphasized how much we rely on America’s health care workforce," said Leah Binder, Leapfrog Group president and CEO, in a news release. "Our straight 'A' hospitals remind us how preparedness protected their patients as well as their workforce and created a high level of organizational resilience."

Across all states, highlights of findings from the spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade include:

• Thirty-three percent of hospitals received an "A," 24 percent received a "B," 35 percent received a "C," 7 percent received a "D," and less than 1 percent received an "F."
• Five states with the highest percentages of "A" hospitals are Massachusetts, Idaho, Maine, Virginia, and North Carolina.
• There were no "A" hospitals in South Dakota or North Dakota.

To determine each state’s grade, Leapfrog used up to 28 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources. When averaged, performance measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.

The goal of the Hospital Safety Grade is to reduce deaths caused by hospital errors and injuries.

Leapfrog estimates that if the risk at all hospitals was equivalent to what it is at "A" hospitals, 50,000 lives at other facilities would have been saved. Overall, the researchers estimate that 160,000 lives are lost every year due to avoidable medical errors. That figure is down from 2016, when the Leapfrog Group estimated there were 205,000 avoidable deaths.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is peer-reviewed by a panel of national experts, and the Leapfrog Group receives guidance from the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality.

Here is the list of hospitals and their grades:

A

• Bayshore Medical Center, Holmdel
• Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains
• Community Medical Center, Toms River
• Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood
• Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center, Westwood
• Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington
• Inspira Medical Center Elmer, Elmer,
• Inspira Medical Center Vineland, Vineland
• Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital, Cherry Hill
• Jefferson Stratford Hospital, Stratford
• Jefferson Washington Township Hospital, Turnersville
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune
• Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch
• Morristown Medical Center, Morristown
• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark
• Newton Medical Center, Newton
• Ocean Medical Center, Brick
• Overlook Medical Center, Summit
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, Hamilton
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, Somerville,
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston
• Saint Clare's Hospital of Denville, Denville
• Saint Clare's Hospital of Dover, Dover
• Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick
• Shore Medical Center, Somers Point
• St. Luke's Warren Campus, Phillipsburg,

B

• Cape Regional Medical Center, Cape May Court House
• CarePoint Health-Bayonne Medical Center, Bayonne
• CarePoint Health-Christ Hospital, Jersey City
• Carepoint Health-Hoboken University Medical Center, Hoboken
• CentraState Medical Center, Freehold
• Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville
• Cooper University Hospital, Camden
• Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center, Montclair
• Hackensack Meridian Health Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen
• Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack
• Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck
• Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City
• Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, Lakewood
• Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, Plainsboro
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Old Bridge, Old Bridge
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Perth Amboy, Perth Amboy
• Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway, Rahway
• Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark
• Salem Medical Center, Salem
• St. Mary's General Hospital, Passaic
• The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood
• Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Camden
• Virtua Voorhees Hospital, Voorhees
• Virtua Willingboro, Willingboro

C

• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center - City Campus, Atlantic City
• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center-Mainland Campus, Pomona
• Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell, Pennington
• Capital Health Regional Medical Center, Trenton
• Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Hackettstown
• Hudson Regional Hospital, Secaucus
• JFK Medical Center, Edison
• Southern Ocean Medical Center, Manahawkin
• St. Francis Medical Center of Trenton, Trenton
• St. Joseph's University Medical Center, Paterson
• St. Joseph's Wayne Medical Center, Wayne
• Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth
• University Hospital, Newark
• Virtua Marlton Hospital, Marlton
• Virtua Memorial Hospital, Mount Holly

D

• East Orange General Hospital, East Orange