6 OC Hospitals Receive "A" Rating for Safety December 6, 2016 Alert, General Leapfrog, Leapfrog Hospital Safety Rating 0 Six hospitals in the Orange County area, including Hoag Hospital Irvine, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Anaheim and Irvine, and UC Irvine, received an A rating from the Leapfrog Group, a national hospital safety organization, which recently released its annual safety ratings for 2016. Of the 2,633 hospitals evaluated nationally, 267 were in California. Eighty-one California hospitals received an A rating overall, and the state ranked 26 among the 47 states included in the rating. Kaiser Permanente hospitals consistently post some of the highest scores. “Kaiser Permanente is committed to patient safety. The ratings by the Leapfrog Group demonstrate that commitment and the trust we have earned from our patients and members, affirming that they are receiving the right care from a team of compassionate physicians, nurses, and care providers,” said Edward M. Ellison, MD, executive medical director, Southern California Permanente Medical Group. “Our emphasis on infection control and adherence to the safest surgical standards makes Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Southern California among the safest in the nation. “In the fast-changing healthcare landscape, patients should be aware that hospitals are not all equally competent at protecting them from injuries and infections. We believe everyone has the right to know which hospitals are the safest and encourage community members to call on their local hospitals to change, and on their elected officials to spur them to action. States that put a priority on safety have shown remarkable improvements.” said Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder in a statement. The Leapfrog Group's safety assessments factor in several criteria from 30 categories, pooled together from various performance measures from sources such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These include rates of errors, injuries, accidents, and infections, according to the LA Times. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is calculated by top patient safety experts and is peer reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. A full description of the data and methodology used in determining grades is available at www.hospitalsafetygrade.org. Comments are closed.