How Rhode Island's Hospitals Rank for Safety

How Rhode Island's Hospitals Rank for Safety

The grades are in.

Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Score has assigned A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals "based on their ability to prevent errors, accidents, injuries and infections,” said the organization this week, for its most recent 2015 rankings that utilized 28 different criteria. 

How did Rhode Island’s hospitals rank?  Of the 9 evaluated, one got an A, five got “B”s, two got “C”s  — and one got a D. 

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SLIDES: SEE THE 2015 RI HOSPITAL SAFETY RANKINGS BELOW

The Hospital Safety Score was developed by the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization “committed to driving quality, safety, and transparency in the U.S. health system.”

Overall, Rhode Island ranked near the bottom of the national rankings, based on percentage of total hospitals in the state that had A grades.  Rhode Island had just over 11%, with one out of 9 getting a top mark.

Maine ranked number one in the country with over 68% of the state’s hospitals receiving A grades.  Massachusetts ranked second in the United States with, just over 60% of the Commonwealth; hospitals received A grades. Five states recorded no hospitals with A grades — Alaska, Washington, DC, North Dakota, New Mexico, Vermont and Wyoming.

The Hospital Association of Rhode Island did not respond to request for comment on the national rankings.  The state’s largest hospital, Rhode Island Hospital, who is a founding Lifespan member and got a "B" grade, declined to comment as well. 

“Taking a deeper look at the 133 ‘Straight A’ hospitals reveals a diverse group, similar only in their consistent commitment to patient safety. Hospitals from across the country, with 100 beds to over 750 beds, non-profit and for-profit alike received this top honor,” said Leah Binder, President & CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which issues the Hospital Safety Score. “No matter how large or small, no matter what kind of community they serve, all hospitals have the potential to give their patients this high level of safe care.”

The importance of hospital safety is pronounced. The impact of the accidents are immense.   

Many hospitals in this country have safety records that wouldn’t be tolerated in any other industry. Here are some of the numbers, according to hospitalsafetyscore.org:

* As many as 440,000 people die every year from hospital errors, injuries, accidents, and infections
* Every year, 1 out of every 25 patients develops an infection while in the hospital - an infection that didn’t have to happen
* A Medicare patient has a 1 in 4 chance of experiencing injury, harm or death when admitted to a hospital
* Each day, more than 1000 people will die because of a preventable hospital error

National Findings

• Of the 2,530 hospitals issued a Hospital Safety Score, 773 earned an A, 724 earned a B, 866 earned a C, 133 earned a D and 34 earned an F  
• Additionally, 133 hospitals earned the “Straight A” designation, which calls attention to hospitals who have consistently received an A grade for safety since the Hospital Safety Score launched in 2012   
• For the fourth time in a row, Maine claimed the number-one spot for the state with the highest percentage of A hospitals, with nearly 69 percent of its hospitals receiving an A
• Due to a considerable data update, 46 percent of hospitals changed at least one letter grade