How did Jacksonville-area hospitals fare in latest Leapfrog patient safety grades?

Half of the 14 full-service Jacksonville-area hospitals received "A" grades in the latest patient safety rankings issued by the Leapfrog Group, a national health care watchdog organization.

The spring 2024 grades were released Wednesday.

In the "A" grade category were Ascension St. Vincent's Clay, Baptist Medical Center Beaches, Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, Baptist Medical Center Nassau, Baptist Medical Center South, HCA Florida Memorial Hospital and Mayo Clinic. Given "B" grades were Ascension St. Vincent's Southside, HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital, UF Health Jacksonville, UF Health Jacksonville North and the former Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, which has since become UF Health St. Johns, part of UF Health.

Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside and HCA Florida Putnam received "C" grades.

How does Leapfrog evaluate patient safety?

Twice a year Leapfrog ranks nearly 3,000 hospitals based on up to 30 performance measures. They range from infection rates, falls and other "adverse events" to staffing levels, communication from doctors and nurse and frequency of health care worker handwashing.

What were Leapfrog's national findings?

The latest rankings showed "significant signs of improvement" since the organization's fall 2023 report, according to Leapfrog. Also, "preventable health care-associated infections show a sustained drop afterunprecedented rates" during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"While today’s results are promising, patient safety remains a crisis-level hazard in health care," said Leah Binder, Leapfrog president and CEO. "Some hospitals are much better than others at protecting patients from harm and that’s why we make the Hospital Safety Grade available to the public and why we encourage all hospitals to focus more attention on safety."

As many as 98,000 preventable inpatient deaths occur in U.S. hospitals every year, according to a National Institutes of Health report.

Which Jacksonville-area hospitals improved?

Ascension St. Vincent's Clay was ranked "A" in the spring 2024 report, up from a "C" in the fall 2023 report. HCA Florida Orange Park moved up to a "B" grade after posting a "C" in the earlier report.

Which Jacksonville-area hospital dropped in the rankings?

UF Health Jacksonville received a "B" in the latest rankings, compared to an "A" in the fall.

How do metropolitan hospitals compare?

For the first time Leapfrog ranked metropolitan areas based on the highest percentage of “A” hospitals. Jacksonville ranked 13th of the top 25 metro areas.

The No. 13 ranking had a three-way tie: Jacksonville, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton in Florida and Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa., each had 57.1% of their hospitals receiving "A" grades.

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Three other Florida metro areas were also in the top 25: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, 61.9%; Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, 55.2%; and Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, 50%.

No. 1 was Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa./N.J. at 72.7%.

What did Jacksonville hospital leaders have to say?

Michael Mayo is president and CEO of Baptist Health. Four of the five full-service Baptist Health hospitals in the Jacksonville area received "A" grades. The fifth, Baptist Medical Center Clay, opened in late 2022 and will be eligible for the next round of rankings.

"We’re immensely proud of our teams for setting a high standard for safe, efficient and effective care," he said. "We realize patients and their families put their trust in us to provide high-quality care at a time when they may be their most vulnerable and we are committed to delivering exceptional care."

Dr. Mario Pulido, Ascension St. Vincent’s chief medical officer, said the health system "celebrates St. Vincent's Clay County on its 'A' grade."

"We are continuously improving safety protocols," he said. "While Leapfrog is one of many evaluator programs, we take their feedback seriously and are focused on achieving substantial improvements by the next review period for our Riverside and Southside hospitals. … We remain dedicated to our patient safety standards without compromise."

Dr. Pablo Moreno Franco, medical director for the Quality Academy at Mayo, said maintaining the Jacksonville clinic's "A" grade "is a testament to our commitment to quality and the infrastructure our teams have put in place to be resilient as a highly reliable organization. Our organization has invested in reorganizing our approach to care delivery, prioritizing safe, high-quality care while emphasizing compassion, safety huddles and human connection."

UF Health Jacksonville and UF Health Jacksonville North "are dedicated to outstanding care for our patients and their families," according to a statement. The latest Leapfrog report "is a testament to our focus on providing the best possible service to everyone who walks through our doors" and the hospitals' "commitment to making sure patients are taken care of in the safest possible setting. That will continue to be the goal."

Why is HCA suspending participation in Leapfrog surveys?

In calculating patient safety grades, Leapfrog uses survey results voluntarily submitted by hospitals and "publicly available data" from other sources, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. A spokeswoman for HCA, which owns the Memorial, Orange Park and Putnam hospitals, said the company would no longer take part in the surveys.

"Leapfrog continues to move away from evidence-based metrics and we believe outcomes are the best measure of quality," she said. "Given that HCA Florida Memorial Hospital has historically been rated highly by Leapfrog … the decision to pause our participation was a difficult one. But we remain committed to clinical excellence in all areas of our hospital, including patient safety."

Alexandra Campione, Hospital Safety Grades program analyst, said Leapfrog scores are based on evidence-based measures of patient safety, as well as other data. HCA hospitals will be included in future patient safety reports, with Leapfrog using other available data. "The difference is [the hospitals'] transparency," she said.

How did Florida hospitals fare in the hospital patient safety rankings?

Florida typically ranks in Leapfrog's top 10 states of hospital patient safety, but, despite having more "A" grade hospitals than in the fall of 2023, slipped out of the top tier this time around. The drop had more to do with other states' improvement than a decline in Florida, according to Campione.

What is the origin of the company's name — Leapfrog?

"Leapfrog’s mission is to trigger giant leaps forward in the safety, quality and affordability of U.S. health care by using transparency to support informed health care decisions and promote high-value care," a spokeswoman said.

What about other hospital safety evaluations?

Healthgrades, an online resource for information about physicians and hospitals, in March named the top 10% of 4,500 health care facilities across the U.S. for patient safety. Five Jacksonville area hospitals — Ascension St. Vincent's Southside, Baptist Medical Center Nassau, HCA Florida Memorial Hospital, HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital and Mayo Clinic — received 2024 Patient Safety Excellence Awards for having the lowest numbers of 14 "preventable patient safety events," according to the platform.

Healthgrades also gave Mayo a 2024 Outstanding Patient Experience Award, as one of only 79 facilities across the country recognized in both categories.

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville-area hospitals make Leapfrog's top 25 for patient safety