St. Mary’s Safety Grade Release
Some people do more research on what car to buy than what hospital to go to for medical care. The Hospital Safety Score provides data and research which allows consumers to make informed decisions about a critical aspect of a hospital stay – safety.
“A hospital can have the best medical staff and the most advanced technology in the world, but unless it is eliminating medical and medication errors as well as preventing infections and injuries, it is not delivering on a very basic promise: ensuring the safety of you and your loved ones,†said Keith Jewell, President St. Mary’s Health.
Designed to rate how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections, the latest Hospital Safety Score honored St. Mary’s with an “A†– its top grade in patient safety. The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered by The Leapfrog Group (Leapfrog), an independent industry watchdog. The first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the Journal of Patient Safety, the Score is free to the public and designed to give consumers information they can use to protect themselves and their families when facing a hospital stay.
“Safety should come first for our families when we pick a hospital, because errors and infections are common and deadly,†said Leah Binder, president & CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which produces the Hospital Safety Score. “No hospital is perfect, but we congratulate the Board, clinicians, administration, and staff of St. Mary’s for achieving an “A†and showing us that you made the well-being of you patients your top priority.â€
“This score is the culmination of a lot of hard work on behalf of our St. Mary’s medical community. Collaboration and communication have been key in our receiving this rating and we will continue to strive for this level of quality,†stated Michael S. Klueh, St. Mary’s
Vice President, Chief Risk & Corporate Responsibility Officer.
Calculated under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single “A,†“B,†“C,†“D,†or “F†score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 U.S. general hospitals were assigned scores in spring 2014, with about 32-percent receiving an “A†grade. The Hospital Safety Score is fully transparent, and its website offers a full analysis of the data and methodology used in determining grades.
“We are indeed living up to healing body, mind and spirit at St. Mary’s when we approach the core of healing with this high grade for the safety of our patients,†added Jewell. To see how St. Mary’s score compares locally and nationally, and to access safety tips
for patients and their loved ones, visit the Hospital Safety Score website at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org. Consumers can also go to www.hospitalsafetyscore.org for a free download of the Hospital Safety Score app.
About The Leapfrog Group
The Hospital Safety Score (www.hospitalsafetyscore.org) is an initiative of The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org), a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.
About St. Mary’s Health
St. Mary’s Health, based in Evansville, Indiana, is a faith-based health ministry serving communities in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. With more than 750 physicians and one of the largest Tri-State employers, St. Mary’s has been recognized as Magnet Organization and named 4th in Best Hospitals in Indiana by US News & World Report. Since 1872, St. Mary’s has been guided by its mission of serving all persons as well as the poor and vulnerable. St. Mary’s is a partner of St. Vincent Health (www.stvincent.org) and a member of Ascension Health (www.ascensionhealth.org). To learn more about our specialties and services or for more information, visit www.stmarys.org .
