The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit health care ratings organization, today released new Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades. The Safety Grade assigns letter grades of A, B, C, D and F to hospitals nationwide based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms. Several St. Luke’s University Health Network campuses including Bethlehem, Allentown and Quakertown were recently among the 832 awarded an “A” for their commitment to keeping patients safe and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S.
“This A rating is an important validation of the Quakertown campus’s laser-like focus on patient safety,” said Ed Nawrocki, President of St. Luke’s Quakertown Hospital. “I couldn’t be prouder of our doctors, nurses and other staff, who have earned Leapfrog’s top honors by making patient safety their overriding priority in everything they do.”
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. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.
“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, management and staff of St. Luke’s University Health Network for showing the country what it means to put patient safety first.”
To see St. Luke’s full grades, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade on Twitter and Facebook.
Note: This story was contributed by St. Luke’s University Health Network. Its publication is part of a news partnership between Saucon Source and SLUHN.
