PA Hospital Safety Grades Released: St. Mary Gets C

The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit founded by employers and health-care providers, announced its Spring 2016 hospital safety rankings Monday, a measure of how safe a hospital is for patients.

Hospitals were given a letter grade from A through F based on several factors. Of the 2,571 hospitals studied nationwide, 798 earned an A, 639 earned a B, 957 earned a C, 162 earned a D and 15 earned an F.

At the state level, Pennsylvania was ranked 33rd in the nation. Vermont was ranked No. 1; six hospitals in the state were ranked, and five were given an A grade. Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Minnesota rounded out the top five.

State rankings were based on a percentage of state hospitals receiving an A grade.

Leapfrog looked at medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections to determine the grades. The goal was to determine a patient's risk of further injury or infection if they visited a certain hospital.

Hospitals given a B rating by Leapfrog had a 9 percent higher risk of avoidable death than A hospitals. That number jumps to 35 percent in C hospitals and 50 percent higher in D and F hospitals.

Leapfrog ranked 132 Pennsylvania hospitals. Here are the grades the hospitals received. (Visit the full list to learn more about individual rankings.)

A

• Abington Health Lansdale Hospital, Lansdale
• Carlisle Regional Medical Center, Carlisle
• Chester County Hospital, West Chester
• Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg
• Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital, Bloomsburg
• Geisinger Lewistown Hospital, Lewistown
• Geisinger Medical Center, Danville
• Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Wilkes-Barre
• Grand View Health, Sellersville
• Hanover Hospital, Hanover
• Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center, Lititz
• Highlands Hospital, Connellsville
• Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster
• Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest, Allentown
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Muhlenberg, Bethlehem
• Mount Nittany Medical Center, State College
• Penn Highlands Clearfield, Clearfield
• Penn Highlands Elk, Saint Marys
• Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey
• PinnacleHealth Community General Osteopathic Hospital, Harrisburg
• PinnacleHealth Harrisburg Hospital, Harrisburg
• PinnacleHealth West Shore Hospital, Mechanisburg
• Pocono Medical Center, East Stroudsburg
• Roxborough Memorial Hospital, Philadelphia
• St. Clair Hospital, Pittsburgh
• St. Luke's Hospital - Anderson Campus, Easton
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia
• UPMC Bedford Memorial, Everett
• Washington Hospital, Washington
• Wayne Memorial Hospital, Honesdale
• Waynesboro Hospital, Waynesboro
• WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital, Gettysburg

B

• Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington
• Aria Health - Bucks County Division, Langhorne
• Aria Health - Frankford Division, Philadelphia
• Aria Health - Torresdale Division, Philadelphia
• Bryn Mawr Hospital, Bryn Mawr
• Frick Hospital, Mt. Pleasant
• Geisinger Community Medical Center, Scranton
• Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre
• Holy Spirit Hospital - A Geisinger Affiliate, Camp Hill
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Jefferson Hills
• Jennersville Regional Hospital, West Grove
• Latrobe Hospital, Latrobe
• Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, Darby
• Mercy Philadelphia Hospital, Philadelphia
• Monongahela Valley Hospital, Monongahela
• Paoli Hospital, Paoli
• Penn Highlands DuBois, DuBois
• Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia
• Reading Hospital, West Reading
• Riddle Hospital, Media
• Suburban Community Hospital, East Norriton
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital - Methodist Hospital Campus, Philadelphia
• Uniontown Hospital, Uniontown
• UPMC Presbyterian, Pittsburgh
• UPMC St. Margaret, Pittsburgh
• WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital, Ephrata
• Wellspan York Hospital, York
• Westmoreland Hospital, Greensburg

C

• ACMH Hospital, Kittanning
• Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh
• Allegheny Valley Hospital, Natrona Heights
• Bradford Regional Medical Center, Bradford
• Brandywine Hospital, Coatesville
• Butler Memorial Hospital, Butler
• Canonsburg General Hospital, Canonsburg
• Chambersburg Hospital, Chambersburg
• Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown
• Crozer Chester Medical Center, Upland
• Crozer Keystone Health System - Delaware County Memorial Hospital, Drexel Hill
• Crozer Keystone Health System - Springfield Hospital, Springfield
• Crozer Keystone Health System - Taylor Hospital, Ridley Park
• Doylestown Hospital, Doylestown
• Easton Hospital, Easton
• Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia
• Einstein Medical Center - Elkins Park, Elkins Park
• Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, East Norriton
• Forbes Regional Hospital, Monroeville
• Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital, Lehighton
• Hahnemann University Hospital, Philadelphia
• Heritage Valley Beaver, Beaver
• Heritage Valley Sewickley, Sewickley
• Holy Redeemer Hospital and Medical Center, Meadowbrook
• Indiana Regional Medical Center, Indiana
• J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital, Huntingdon
• Jameson Hospital - North Campus, New Castle
• Jeanes Hospital, Philadelphia
• Lancaster Regional Medical Center, Lancaster
• Lower Bucks Hospital, Bristol
• Meadville Medical Center, Meadville
• Memorial Hospital, York
• Mercy Health System - Nazareth Hospital, Philadelphia
• Moses Taylor Hospital, Scranton
• Ohio Valley General Hospital, Mckees Rocks
• Palmerton Hospital, Palmerton
• Penn State Health St. Joseph, Reading
• Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia
• Phoenixville Hospital, Phoenixville
• Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, Pottstown
• Regional Hospital of Scranton, Scranton
• Sacred Heart Hospital, Allentown
• Saint Vincent Health Center, Erie
• Schuylkill Medical Center - East Norwegian St, Pottsville
• Schuylkill Medical Center - South Jackson St, Pottsville
• Sharon Regional Health System, Sharon
• Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital, Wellsboro
• Somerset Hospital, Somerset
• St. Luke's Hospital - Allentown Campus, Allentown
• St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital, Quakertown
• St. Luke's University Hospital - Bethlehem Campus, Bethlehem
• St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne
• Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia
• University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - East Campus, Monroeville
• UPMC Altoona, Altoona
• UPMC Hamot, Erie
• UPMC Horizon, Greenville
• UPMC Mercy, Pittsburgh
• UPMC Northwest, Seneca
• UPMC Passavant, Pittsburgh
• Warren General Hospital, Warren
• Wellspan Good Samaritan Hospital, Lebanon
• Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh
• Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Wilkes-Barre
• Williamsport Regional Medical Center, Williamsport
• Windber Medical Center, Windber

D

• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Hazleton, Hazelton
• Nason Hospital, Roaring Spring

F

• Clarion Hospital, Clarion

Leapfrog also conducted an analysis with researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine's Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. They estimated that 206,021 avoidable deaths occur each year in U.S. hospitals.

The analysis estimates that 33,459 lives could be saved if every hospital improved their safety record to A standards. Still, the study estimates 43,903 avoidable deaths in A hospitals each year.

Leapfrog releases its rankings twice a year.

“It is time for every hospital in America to put patient safety at the top of their priority list, because tens of thousands of lives are stake,” Leapfrog President Leah Binder said in a press release. “The Hospital Safety Score alerts consumers to the dangers, but as this analysis shows, even A hospitals are not perfectly safe.”