How good is your hospital at preventing infections, falls, medical errors? Take a look
How well does your hospital care for patients?
The good news: Florida is in the Top 10 for states with hospitals that do a good job at preventing medical errors, accidents and infections, according to a new report released by the LeapFrog Group, a national watchdog nonprofit that has analyzed hospital data for more than 20 years.
The bad news: Nearly half of the hospitals in Miami-Dade and Broward counties received a “C” in their patient safety report card, with only five hospitals getting an “A.” LeapFrog gave 11 hospitals a “B” and 14 hospitals a “C.” Four hospitals scored a “D.” None got “F.”
The LeapFrog Group releases reports twice a year to help people find the safest hospital near them for care. The nonprofit’s recently released Fall 2023 report grades hospitals on their performance post-pandemic for the first time. It relies on 22 evidence-based measures of patient safety to give hospitals an A-F letter grade. Naturally, A is best, F is the worst.
Here’s what to know:
What Leapfrog’s patient safety report found
▪ Leapfrog’s new patient safety report found that hospitals across the country, overall, reduced “healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) post-pandemic after significant increases in infection rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
▪ Utah had the highest percentage of “A” hospitals this fall, according to the report. Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 list of states with the most “A” hospitals this fall are Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Connecticut, Montana, Tennessee, Florida and Texas.
▪ The report also found that the “patient experience” — measures such as communication about medicine and staff responsiveness that are “closely associated with patient safety issues” — worsened for the second year in a row, with all states experiencing a “significant decline in reported patient experience from the fall 2021 to the fall 2023 Safety Grade.”
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Florida was one of the states that saw some of the most significant declines in the reported categories of nurse communication, doctor communication, staff responsiveness, communication about medicines and discharge information, according to the nonprofit.
▪ The bottom line: “Now that we have pre- and post-pandemic data for patient safety measures, we are encouraged by the improvement in infections and applaud hospitals for reversing the disturbing infection spike we saw during the pandemic,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a statement. “However, there’s still more work to be done. It’s deeply concerning that patient reports about their healthcare experience continues to decline.”
One key reason for the continuous decline: staffing shortages, Binder said.
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What do these grades mean for you?
LeapFrog said it grades nearly 3,000 hospitals in the country “on the very basics of medical care, such as handwashing, entering prescriptions through a computer, and the availability of highly-trained nurses.”
While you can look at a hospital’s overall grade, you can also get a more detailed look at how your hospital ranked in categories including infections, problems with surgery, safety problems, practices to prevent errors, and how well doctors, nurses and hospital staff respond and communicate.
LeapFrog recommends people consider how well a hospital scores in handwashing, reducing blood infections and patient falls when picking a place to seek care. If you have an emergency, go to your nearest hospital for care.
What grade did your Miami-Dade or Broward hospital get?
Here’s a look at the overall grades of 34 hospitals in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Keep in mind that the report does not include specialty hospitals, including children’s hospitals such as Nicklaus Children’s Hospital near South Miami or Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood. It also doesn’t include surgical centers, critical access hospitals and veteran hospitals, including the Miami VA. LeapFrog said this could be because the hospitals aren’t required to publicly report their safety record to the federal government, the hospitals are too small or they lack the necessary data.
“A” hospitals
▪ Baptist Health Doctors Hospital, 5000 University Dr, Coral Gables. Grade: A, an improvement from spring 2023, when it scored a C.
▪ Baptist Health Homestead Hospital, 975 Baptist Way, Homestead. Grade: Kept its A grade.
▪ Larkin Community Hospital South Miami, 7031 SW 62nd Ave. Grade: Kept its A grade. It’s worth noting that this hospital since 2020 has mostly kept its “A” grade, with the exception of spring 2021 and spring 2022, when it scored a C and B, respectively.
▪ Memorial Hospital Miramar, 1901 SW 172nd Ave., Miramar. Grade: A, an improvement from spring 2023, when it got a B.
▪ HCA Florida Westside Hospital, 8201 W. Broward Blvd, Plantation. Grade: Kept its A. This hospital has scored B’s and A’s since 2020.
“B” hospitals
▪ Baptist Health South Miami Hospital, 6200 SW 73rd St. Grade: B, an improvement since fall 2021, when it began scoring a C.
▪ West Kendall Baptist Hospital, 9555 SW 162nd Ave. Grade: Kept its B grade.
▪ Broward Health Coral Springs, 3000 Coral Hills Dr., Coral Springs. Grade: B. It has ranked B since 2020, with the exception of fall 2022, when it scored an A.
▪ Broward Health Medical Center, 1600 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Grade: B, an improvement from spring 2023 when it was a C. It’s worth noting the hospital has had a C ranking since 2020, with the exception of fall 2021 and spring 2022, when it got a B.
▪ Broward Health North, 201 E. Sample Rd., Deerfield Beach. Grade: B, a grade it has held since fall 2021. Prior to that, it was a C.
▪ Cleveland Clinic Hospital Weston, 3100 Cleveland Clinic Blvd., Weston. Grade: B, a grade it has held since fall 2021. Prior to that, it was an A.
▪ HCA Florida Aventura Hospital, 20900 Biscayne Blvd., Aventura. Grade: B, an improvement as the hospital has held a C since spring 2020.
▪ HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, 11750 SW 40th St. Grade: Kept its B grade, which it first obtained in fall 2022. Prior to that, it was a C.
▪ Holy Cross Hospital, 4725 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale. Grade: Kept its B grade, which it first obtained in spring 2023. Previously, it held an A.
▪ Larkin Community Hospital Palm Springs campus, 1475 W 49th Pl., Hialeah. Grade: B, worse then before when it held an A though it’s still better then in 2020 and 2021, when it scored a C
▪ Memorial Hospital Pembroke, 7800 Sheridan St., Pembroke Pines. Grade: Kept its B. The hospital had held an A since spring 2020 until spring 2023, when it got a B.
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“C” hospitals
▪ Baptist Health Baptist Hospital of Miami, 8900 North Kendall Dr. Grade: Kept its C grade, which its held since spring 2020.
▪ Broward Health Imperial Point, 6401 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale. Grade: C, worse from its previous B grade. The hospital has mostly held a B since 2020, with the exception of fall 2020 and spring 2021, when it had an A.
▪ Coral Gables Hospital, 3100 Douglas Rd., Coral Gables. Grade: C, worse from its previous B grade. This is the second time since 2020 that the hospital received a C. The previous time was in spring 2022.
▪ HCA Florida Mercy Hospital, 3663 S. Miami Ave. Grade: Kept its C, which the hospital has held since fall 2021. Pror to then, it was a B.
▪ HCA Florida Woodmont Hospital, 7201 N. University Dr., Tamarac. Grade: C, worse from its previous spring 2023 B grade.
▪ Jackson Memorial Hospital, 1611 NW 12th Ave., Miami. Grade: C, an improvement from it D spring 2023 grade. Jackson had a C from 2020-2022.
▪ Jackson North Medical Center, 160 NW 170th St., North Miami Beach. Grade: C, an improvement from the D it received in spring 2023. It held a C from 2020-2022.
▪ Jackson West Medical Center, 2801 NW 79th Ave., Doral. Grade: C. This is the first time the hospital, which opened in 2021, was given a grade.
▪ Memorial Hospital West, 703 N. Flamingo Rd., Pembroke Pines. Grade: Kept its C grade. Previously held A’s and B’s in 2020 through 2022.
▪ Memorial Regional Hospital, 3501 Johnson St., Hollywood. Grade: Kept its C. From 2020 through 2022 it held B’s and A’s.
▪ Memorial Regional Hospital South, 3600 Washington St., Hollywood. Grade: Kept its C. From 2020 through 2022 it held B’s and A’s.
▪ Mount Sinai Medical Center, 4300 Alton Rd., Miami Beach. Grade: Kept its C, which its held since fall 2021. Previously, it held a B.
▪ Palmetto General Hospital, 2001 W. 68th St., Hialeah. Grade: Kept its C, which its held since spring 2022. Previously, it held B’s and one A.
▪ Steward Hialeah Hospital, 651 E. 25th St., Hialeah. Grade: Kept its C. This hospital had previously held B’s since 2020, with the exception of a C it got in fall 2020.
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“D” hospitals
▪ Florida Medical Center, 5000 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Grade: Kept its D. In 2020 and 2021, it held a B, then a C in 2022.
▪ HCA Florida Northwest Hospital, 2801 N. State Road 7, Margate. Grade: It scored a D, worse then in spring 2023 when it held a C. This hospital had held a C since fall 2020. In spring 2020, it had a B.
▪ Jackson South Medical Center, 9333 SW 152nd St. Grade: Kept its D, which it first received in spring 2023. It previously held a C from 2020 through 2022.
▪ North Shore Medical Center, 1100 NW 95th St. Grade: D, worse then in spring 2023 when it held a C. The hospital scored a B in 2020 and 2021 and later fell to a C in 2022.
What South Florida hospitals said about their grades
The Miami Herald contacted hospitals that scored an “A” as well as those that scored a “D” requesting comment. Here are the hospitals that responded:
▪ Baptist Health South Florida, whose hospitals scored A’s, B’s and C’s, said its goal is to provide high-quality, safe care for patients, and that while it recognizes that Leapfrog Groups’ ratings can help hospitals improve, it noted that some of the data Leapfrog used goes back to 2019 “and include periods of time when South Florida experienced severe patient surges due to the pandemic. Our health system has taken steps to improve in areas where needed, and we are committed to continuing to use the data to make positive changes.”
▪ Jackson Health System, Miami-Dade’s public hospital network, whose hospitals scored C’s and a D, also said that patient safety was its highest priority.
“Over the last year, we have focused on implementing best practices in quality and safety at all of our facilities, and have seen gradual improvement,” Jackson said in a statement. “We suffered some setbacks while carrying Miami-Dade County through the COVID pandemic. These grades reflect one step forward as we make Jackson one of the safest, highest quality healthcare systems in Miami-Dade. We pay close attention to these safety scores and use them as a tool to evaluate ways in which we can further improve and implement lasting change throughout our organization.”
Check your Florida hospital
To search for another hospital or to read the report for your hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org/
