4 Catholic Health hospitals receive 'A' safety grades in fall 2018 report
Strengthening its position as the area leader in quality and patient safety, Catholic Health has once again earned the region's highest overall score in the Leapfrog Group's fall 2018 hospital safety grade report - and the only "A" grades in Western New York. In the national report released Thursday, Catholic Health hospitals received four of only 12 "A" safety grades that were given in all of New York state.
Topping the list of area hospitals, Kenmore Mercy, Sisters of Charity and its St. Joseph Campus and Mount St. Mary's all earned "A" safety grades. It is the 10th consecutive "A" grade for Kenmore Mercy. Mercy Hospital of Buffalo received a grade of "B." In addition to Catholic Health receiving the most "A" safety grades for its individual hospitals, the system achieved the region's highest combined score.
"For everyone in Catholic Health - from our physicians, nurses, clinical professionals and support staff, to our leadership and board of directors - quality and patient safety is our top priority," said Mark Sullivan, president and CEO of Catholic Health. "This focused commitment has helped us move the needle even further to achieve these leading scores, locally and throughout New York state. Most importantly, it reaffirms that our patients come first. I can't thank our team enough for everything they do to drive quality throughout our organization and set a new standard for excellence in our community."
Based in Washington, D.C., The Leapfrog Group is an independent industry watchdog founded more than a decade ago by the nation's largest employers to improve health care quality and safety for consumers. The group strives to promote transparency in health care quality reporting, by grading hospitals from "A" to "F" on how well they protect patients from medical errors, infections and other preventable harm.
Developed under the guidance of an expert panel, the Leapfrog Group uses 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign a letter grade to hospitals across the U.S. on their overall ability to keep patients safe from preventable harm. In the fall 2018 report of approximately 2,600 hospitals, 32 percent earned an "A," 24 percent earned a "B," 37 percent a "C," 6 percent a "D" and 1 percent an "F."
Catholic Health's quality and patient safety department manages thousands of quality measures, which organizations like the Leapfrog Group use to rate hospitals on the care and service they provide. This information is also used within Catholic Health to continuously monitor and improve quality outcomes throughout its hospitals.
"There are many sources of public and independent quality reporting and we encourage patients to use these tools to compare hospitals and make more informed health care decisions," said John Kane, senior vice president of quality and patient safety for Catholic Health. "The Leapfrog Safety Grade is an excellent yardstick for us to measure ourselves against the best hospitals in the country as we move one step closer to achieving straight A's throughout our system."