Charlotte, NC, April 29, 2021– The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit representing hundreds of the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care, driven in North Carolina by the North Carolina Business Group on Health (NCBGH), announced today the spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades.
The independent grading system assigns “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” and “F” letter grades to general acute-care hospitals in the U.S. based on their ability to protect patients from avoidable errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.
In North Carolina, 83 hospitals were graded, and 39 earned an “A,” 24 earned a “B,” 18 earned a “C,” 2 earned a “D,”, with none in North Carolina earning an “F.”
This ranks North Carolina 5th in the United States in keeping patients safe from harm.
Special recognition goes to Rex Hospital in Raleigh which is one of only 27 hospitals in the U.S. that have achieved straight “A” scores since the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades were launched in 2012.
“Our members watch the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade closely because we know how critical they are to the lives and health of people throughout North Carolina,” said Jon Rankin, president and CEO of NCBGH. “We care deeply about our hospitals, a point brought home to us by the pandemic, and we hold them to the highest standards because we entrust them with our lives.”
Developed under the guidance of a National Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,700 U.S. hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.
“The Leapfrog Group commends all hospitals and health care workers in North Carolina who saved patients throughout the pandemic,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “As we move forward, we will never forget that the safety of the patient is the first priority.”
For more information about the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, as well as individual grades and state rankings, please visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.
About North Carolina Business Group on Health
North Carolina Business Group on Health is a nonprofit coalition of North Carolina employers using their collective voice to influence decisions that impact the quality and cost of healthcare delivery systems in our state. Partnering with employers and other key healthcare stakeholders from across the state, NCBGH serves to educate, advocate and innovate for a better healthcare delivery system.
About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.
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