Best And Worst VA, DC Hospital Safety Grades 2020: Report
WASHINGTON, DC — Several hospitals in Virginia and Washington, D.C., received top grades for safety, while others didn’t quite measure up, according to new spring 2020 ratings released by the Leapfrog Group recently.
Safety grades are released by the nonprofit organization twice per year, in the spring and the fall. The ratings of more than 2,600 hospitals focus on accidents, injuries and infections, and help to assess how well a facility prevents medical errors and other harm to patients.
It’s worth noting the metrics used to determine this spring’s hospital grades originated from safety data reported for periods ending in 2018 and 2019. The report does not take into account the strain the new coronavirus outbreak is placing on some hospitals where staff are experiencing shortages of drugs and protection equipment.
In Virginia:
36 hospitals received an A grade.
17 hospitals received a B grade.
12 hospitals received a C grade.
3 hospitals received a D grade.
0 hospitals received an F grade.
In the District of Columbia:
0 hospitals received an A grade.
2 hospitals received a B grade.
2 hospitals received a C grade.
1 hospital received a D grade.
0 hospitals received an F grade.
(See detailed list below)
The latest grades show 33 percent of hospitals nationwide earned an “A” grade while 25 percent earned a “B.” Some 35 percent earned a “C” grade, 7 percent a “D” and less than 1 percent received an “F” grade.
Here are the Leapfrog Group's spring 2020 grades for hospitals in Virginia:
Grade "A"
Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, Norfolk
Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital, Newport News
Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, Mechanicsville
CJW Medical Center - Chippenham Campus, Richmond
Clinch Valley Medical Center, Richlands
Fauquier Hospital, Warrenton
Henrico Doctors' Hospital, Richmond
Inova Alexandria Hospital, Alexandria
Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, Fairfax
Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church
Inova Loudoun Hospital, Leesburg
Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Alexandria
LewisGale Hospital - Alleghany, Low Moor
LewisGale Hospital - Montgomery, Blacksburg
LewisGale Hospital - Pulaski, Pulaski
LewisGale Medical Center, Salem
Norton Community Hospital, Norton
Novant Health UVA Health System Haymarket Medical Center, Haymarket
Novant Health UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center, Manassas
Parham Doctors' Hospital, Richmond
Reston Hospital Center, Reston
Retreat Doctors' Hospital, Richmond
Riverside Tappahannock Hospital, Tappahannock
Riverside Walter Reed Hospital, Gloucester
Sentara CarePlex Hospital, Hampton
Sentara Leigh Hospital, Norfolk
Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital, Charlottesville
Sentara Obici Hospital, Suffolk
Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, Virginia Beach
Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, Virginia Beach
Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, Williamsburg
Virginia Hospital Center--Arlington Health System, Arlington
Winchester Medical Center, Winchester
Wythe County Community Hospital, Wytheville
Grade "B"
Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Portsmouth
Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center, Midlothian
Carilion New River Valley Medical Center, Christiansburg
Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Roanoke
Danville Regional Medical Center, Danville
John Randolph Medical Center, Hopewell
Lonesome Pine Hospital, Big Stone Gap
Mountain View Regional Hospital, Norton
Novant Health UVA Health System Culpeper Medical Center, Culpeper
Riverside Regional Medical Center, Newport News
Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Norfolk
Sentara RMH Medical Center, Harrisonburg
Southside Regional Medical Center, Petersburg
Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, Fredericksburg
Stafford Hospital, Stafford
University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville
Grade "C"
Augusta Health, Fishersville
Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, Chesapeake
Johnston Memorial Hospital, Abingdon
Mary Washington Hospital, Fredericksburg
Riverside Doctors' Hospital Williamsburg, Williamsburg
Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital, South Boston
Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, Woodbridge
Sovah Health Martinsville, Martinsville
StoneSprings Hospital Center, Dulles
VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital, South Hill
VCU Medical Center Main Hospital, Richmond
Warren Memorial Hospital, Front Royal
Grade "D"
Centra Lynchburg General Hospital, Lynchburg
Centra Southside Community Hospital, Farmville
Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital, Lynchburg
Grade "F"
No hospitals received an "F" grade.
Here are the Leapfrog Group's spring 2020 grades for hospitals in Washington, D.C.:
There were no A or F grades.
Grade "B"
Grade "C"
Grade "D"
To determine each state’s grade, Leapfrog used up to 28 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources. When averaged, performance measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.
The goal of the Hospital Safety Grade is to reduce deaths caused by hospital errors and injuries.
Leapfrog estimates that if the risk at all hospitals was equivalent to what it is at "A" hospitals, 50,000 lives at other facilities would have been saved. Overall, the researchers estimate that 160,000 lives are lost every year due to avoidable medical errors. That figure is down from 2016, when the Leapfrog Group estimated there were 205,000 avoidable deaths.
For a full description of the methodology, go here.
This article originally appeared on the Old Town Alexandria Patch