New Virginia Hospital Safety Ratings: 36 Get 'A' Grade, 2 Get 'D'

VIRGINIA — Thirty-six Virginia hospitals received an "A" grade for patient safety in The Leapfrog Group’s new round of hospital safety grades. In that same analysis, two Virginia hospitals received a "D" grade. No hospitals in the state received an “F.”

Seventeen hospitals received a "B," while 13 got a "C." Founded in 2000, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit group that aims to help the public protect themselves from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections in hospitals and medical centers.

Across the United States, the latest grades show 34 percent of hospitals nationwide earned an “A,” while 24 percent earned a “B”. A total of 35 percent earned a C, seven percent received a D and less than 1 percent received an “F”.

Leapfrog's safety grades are released by the nonprofit organization twice per year and focus on more than 2,600 hospitals nationwide.

In its most recent rating released in December, the Virginia hospitals that received “A” grades were (in alphabetical order):

• Augusta Health (Fisherville)
• Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center (Norfolk)
• Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital (Newport News
• Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center Portsmouth)
• Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital of Richmond
• Carilion New River Valley Medical Center (Christiansburg)
• CJW Medical Center - Chippenham Campus (Richmond)
• CJW Medical Center - Johnston-Willis Campus (Richmond)
• Henrico Doctors' Hospital (Richmond)
• Inova Alexandria Hospital
• Inova Fair Oaks Hospital (Fairfax)

Virginia Changes Approach Of Vaccine Distribution To Localities

• Inova Fairfax Hospital (Falls Church)
• Inova Loudoun Hospital (Leesburg)
• Inova Mount Vernon Hospital (Alexandria)
• LewisGale Hospital – Montgomery (Blacksburg)
• LewisGale Hospital - Pulaski
• LewisGale Medical Center (Salem)
• Lonesome Pine Hospital (Big Stone Gap)
• Mountain View Regional Hospital (Norton)
• Norton Community Hospital
• Novant Health UVA Health System Culpeper Medical Center
• Novant Health UVA Health System Haymarket Medical Center
• Novant Health UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center (Manassas)
• Parham Doctors' Hospital (Richmond)
• Reston Hospital Center
• Retreat Doctors' Hospital (Richmond)
• Riverside Tappahannock Hospital
• Riverside Walter Reed Hospital (Gloucester)
• Sentara CarePlex Hospital (Hampton)
• Sentara Leigh Hospital (Norfolk)
• Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital (Charlottesville)
• Sentara Obici Hospital (Suffolk)
• Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital
• Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center
• Virginia Hospital Center--Arlington Health System
• Winchester Medical Center

Among the 17 Virginia hospitals with “B” grades were StoneSprings Hospital Center in Loudoun County and Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center.

The 13 hospitals that received a “C” grade included Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center in Woodbridge, Stafford Hospital and Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton.

Two Lynchburg hospitals — Centra Lynchburg General Hospital and Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital — were the only hospitals in Virginia to receive “D” grades in the report.

View the list of Virginia hospital ratings, and see how your local hospital fared.

The group determines the hospital grades by looking through safety data reported in 2018 and 2019. The safety grade is the only rating focused entirely on how well hospitals protect patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries and infections.

(You can read more about the letter grades here.)

The report did not take into account the strain the coronavirus outbreak is placing on some hospitals, with shortages of drugs and protection equipment.

"We see in the news every day the extraordinary courage of clinicians and staff caring for patients stricken by COVID-19," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, in a statement.

"What's less apparent — yet equally laudable — are the untold efforts behind the scenes to protect patients. Hospitals' commitment to the fundamentals have saved lives too, like preventing infection, ensuring universal hand hygiene, and double and triple checking everything to avoid errors,” Binder said. “We are grateful for the heroic efforts of hospitals across the Nation and applaud their efforts that are protecting our families."