Kenmore Mercy and Mount St. Mary's hospitals awarded 'A' Hospital Safety Grade from Leapfrog Group

Catholic Health hospitals receives overall combined ‘A’ Safety Grade

Kenmore Mercy Hospital and Mount St. Mary’s Hospital received the Buffalo-Niagara region’s only “A” Hospital Safety Grades from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit agency that rates hospitals on how well they protect patients from preventable harm.

It is the 19th consecutive “A” for Kenmore Mercy, which is the most of any hospital in New York. Catholic Health received the region’s highest overall safety score, with Mercy Hospital of Buffalo and Sisters of Charity Hospital receiving “B” Safety Grades.

“All our hospital scores improved since the Fall Safety Grade Report, as did Catholic Health overall, which is a testament to the hard work of our entire health care team,” said Hans Cassagnol, M.D., M.M.M., chief clinical officer and physician executive for Catholic Health. “While the last few years have been challenging for health care providers everywhere, our focus on quality and patient safety has never wavered as we continue to use the technology and talent we have throughout our system to raise the bar even further.”

Founded more than 20 years ago by large employers and other major purchasers of health care, The Leapfrog Group is an independent watchdog organization that collects and reports safety data for nearly 3,000 hospitals across the country, giving consumers the information they need to make more informed health care decisions. The Safety Grade Report assigns letter grades, ranging from A to F, based on more than 30 national performance measures that rate how well a hospital protects patients from preventable medical errors, injuries, accidents and infections.

“This new update of Hospital Safety Grades shows that, at the national level, we saw deterioration in patient safety with the pandemic,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “But these hospitals received an ‘A’ despite those challenges. I congratulate all the leaders, staff, volunteers and clinicians who together made that possible.”

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm 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.

To see Catholic Health’s full grade details and to access tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org.