3 Wisconsin Hospitals Earn 'D' Grades In 2020

MILWAUKEE, WI —Several hospitals in Wisconsin received top grades for safety while others didn’t quite measure up, according to new spring 2020 ratings released by the Leapfrog Group this week.

Safety grades are released by the nonprofit organization twice per year, in the spring and the fall. The ratings of more than 2,600 hospitals focus on accidents, injuries and infections, and help to assess how well a facility prevents medical errors and other harm to patients.

It’s worth noting the metrics used to determine this spring’s hospital grades originated from safety data reported for periods ending in 2018 and 2019. The report does not take into account the strain the new coronavirus outbreak is placing on some hospitals where staff are experiencing shortages of drugs and protection equipment.

In Wisconsin:

• 22 hospitals received an A grade.
• 14 hospitals received a B grade.
• 21 hospitals received a C grade.
• 3 hospitals received a D grade.
• 0 hospitals received an F grade.

The latest grades show 33 percent of hospitals nationwide earned an “A” grade while 25 percent earned a “B.” Some 35 percent earned a “C” grade, 7 percent a “D” and less than 1 percent received an “F” grade.

Highest Rating

Leapfrog Group's spring 2020 "A" grades for hospitals in Wisconsin:

Aurora Lakeland Medical Center, Elkhorn

Aurora Medical Center, Two Rivers

Aurora Medical Center of Washington County, Hartford

Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center, Sheboygan

Bellin Memorial Hospital, Green Bay

Fort Memorial Hospital, Fort Atkinson

Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee

Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital, Menomonee Falls

Froedtert West Bend Hospital, West Bend

HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital, Eau Claire

HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital, Chippewa Falls

HSHS St. Mary's Hospital of Green Bay, Green Bay

HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital, Sheboygan

HSHS St. Vincent Hospital of Green Bay, Green Bay

Mayo Clinic Health System - Franciscan Healthcare in LaCrosse

Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire

Mayo Clinic Hospital, Monroe

Sauk Prairie Hospital, Prairie du Sac

SSM Health St. Clare Hospital - Baraboo

SSM Health St. Clare Hospital - Janesville

UnityPoint Health - Meriter

Watertown Regional Medical Center

Lowest Rating

Leapfrog Group's spring 2020 "D" grades for hospitals in Wisconsin:

Ascension St. Francis Hospital, Milwaukee

Ascension St. Mary's Hospital, Rhinelander

Howard Young Medical Center, Woodruff

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.

For a full description of the methodology, go here.