Abington Memorial Hospital Gets 'B' Safety Grade

By MARC TORRENCE, KARA SEYMOUR, and JUSTIN HEINZE

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.

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.

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.

• See the full list of hospital safety scores here.

A list of rankings for hospitals in Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Chester counties is included below:

A

• Abington Health Lansdale Hospital, Lansdale
• Chester County Hospital, West Chester
• Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood
• Roxborough Memorial Hospital, Philadelphia
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia

B

• Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington
• Aria Health - Frankford Division, Philadelphia
• Aria Health - Torresdale Division, Philadelphia
• Bryn Mawr Hospital, Bryn Mawr
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• Mercy Philadelphia Hospital, Philadelphia
• Paoli Hospital, Paoli
• Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia
• Suburban Community Hospital, East Norriton
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital - Methodist Hospital Campus, Philadelphia

C

• Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia
• Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, East Norriton
• Hahnemann University Hospital, Philadelphia
• Jeanes Hospital, Philadelphia
• Mercy Health System - Nazareth Hospital, Philadelphia
• Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia
• Phoenixville Hospital, Phoenixville
• Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, Pottstown
• Schuylkill Medical Center - East Norwegian St, Pottsville
• Schuylkill Medical Center - South Jackson St, Pottsville
• Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia

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.

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.”