The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit healthcare ratings organization, on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, released new Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades to general acute-care hospitals in the nation. St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago was awarded the organization’s highest grade, an “A” in patient safety.
The Hospital Safety grades, ranging from A to F, rate how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, injuries, errors and infections.
St. Catherine Hospital was one of only 832 hospitals out of 2,639 hospitals in the U.S., and only one of 18 in Indiana, to receive an “A” for its commitment to meeting the highest patient safety standards in the country.
“Safe, high-quality patient care is a priority of St. Catherine Hospital,” said Leo Correa, CEO. “This A-grade is a reflection of longstanding commitment by staff, physicians and hospital leadership to keep our patients in the forefront and best-practices in place for exceptional outcomes.”
“It takes consistent, unwavering dedication to patients to achieve the highest standards of patient safety. An ‘A’ Safety Grade recognizes hospitals for this accomplishment,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We congratulate the clinicians, board members, management and staff of St. Catherine Hospital for showing the country what it means to put patient safety first.”
The Leapfrog Group began releasing public hospital safety scores to help consumers protect themselves and their families and improve the quality and safety of American healthcare. Developed under the guidance of a Blue Ribbon National Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year.
Since 2012 when the scoring system began, Leapfrog Group says it has seen a 21 percent decline in hospital-acquired conditions, increased adoption and improved functionality of computerized physician order entry systems and millions of averted patient harms.
Impressively, St. Catherine Hospital has achieved the ‘A’ rating in all but two bi-annual scoring updates of the Leapfrog Hospital Safety grade since 2014.
To see St. Catherine Hospital’s full grade, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.
To learn more about St. Catherine Hospital, a 205-bed acute care hospital that is part of Community Healthcare System, the largest integrated healthcare system in Northwest Indiana, visit https://www.comhs.org.
