North Carolina’s Fall 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades Announced
Charlotte, NC, November 10, 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, announced today the fall 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades.
The independent grading system assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” grade to general hospitals across the country based on over thirty national measures of preventable errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. The fall 2021 Hospital Safety Grade represents the largest set of hospitals ever graded with grades assigned to 2,901 facilities across the country.
In North Carolina 49 hospitals were graded, and 49 earned an “A,” 26 earned a “B,” 12 earned a “C,” 2 earned a “D,” while none earned an “F.”
Overall, North Carolina ranked 2nd in the nation in the percentage of hospitals receiving an “A” rating.
“The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade supports patients and their families across North Carolina when they need hospital care,” said Jon Rankin, CEO of the North Carolina Business Group on Health. “Hospitals’ commitment to fundamental safety practices can save lives in our state.”
Special recognition goes to Rex Hospital in Raleigh as one of only 23 hospitals in the nation to receive straight “A” ratings since 2012 when LeapFrog first started the ratings.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harms to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring.
“The Leapfrog Group thanks the health care workers in North Carolina and nationwide who work so hard for their communities. It’s important we recognize excellence, especially in times like these. But it’s also important to know when hospitals fall short because lives are at stake,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We see every day how hospitals can and will improve their safety when patients make clear it’s important to them.”
For more information about the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, as well as individual hospital grades and state rankings, please visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org and follow The Leapfrog Group on Facebook and Twitter.
About North Carolina Business Group on Health
Founded in 2011, NCBGH is a non-profit coalition of employers and other key healthcare stakeholders across the state using their collective voice to influence decisions and impact the quality and cost of healthcare delivery systems across North Carolina.
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.
