Hand washing, infections among concerns at metro-east hospitals, watchdog report says
A national watchdog group recently scored some southwestern Illinois hospitals below average for safety metrics, including infections, communication and hand washing.
The Leapfrog Group is a nonprofit organization that provides ratings and safety data for hospitals and it recently released grades for nearly 3,000 hospitals across the country. The organization releases updated grades twice each year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
Out of eight metro-east and St. Louis-area hospitals, three received lower grades compared to the spring and one saw improved performance.
We released the fall 2023 #HospitalSafetyGrades! This cycle, nearly 30% of hospitals earned an “A,” 24% earned a “B,” 39% earned a “C,” 7% earned a “D,” and less than 1% earned an “F.”
Learn more: https://t.co/cPkXwc3P8h pic.twitter.com/Sn4RkaSEZE— The Leapfrog Group (@LeapfrogGroup) November 9, 2023
Gateway Regional Medical Center improved by one letter grade, after receiving ‘D’s from Leapfrog in several consecutive ratings.
Memorial Hospital Belleville saw performance decline for the second consecutive rating, particularly struggling in staffing specially trained doctors in intensive care units. Anderson Hospital and SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia saw similar staffing issues, according to Leapfrog.
Only one hospital of the eight, OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton, responded to Leapfrog’s survey. Other hospitals declined to report information about safety metrics related to staffing and bedside care.
Seven of the eight hospitals scored below average for handwashing, one of the metrics Leapfrog considers most important.
HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese received the worst score given to any hospital for C. diff infections, and several hospitals received low grades relating to staffing.
While some metro-east hospitals struggled with infection rates, the national trend shows facilities reducing the number of health care-acquired infections, Leapfrog reports. These ratings are the first to reflect “post-pandemic” hospital performance, Leapfrog says.
“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 Nov. 6 press release. “However, there’s still more work to be done. It’s deeply concerning that patient reports about their health care experience continues to decline.”
Illinois ranked 28th in the nation for the highest number of hospitals earning an ‘A’ ranking, Leapfrog reports. The ranking is the same as last year’s, though the percentage of ‘A’ hospitals declined from 26.1% to 24.8%.
Here’s how metro-east hospitals performed in Leapfrog’s grading, plus how to interpret ratings and which areas should be most heavily considered.
Memorial Hospital Belleville
Spring 2023 grade: B
Fall 2022 grade: A
Here are the areas in which Memorial Hospital Belleville scored below average this fall:
MRSA infection
Infection in the blood
Infection in the urinary tract
Patient falls and injuries
Falls causing broken hips
Safe medication administration
Hand washing (Memorial Hospital Belleville received a 59 out of 100 for hand washing. The average score given was 77.32, and the worst was 15.)
Specially trained doctors care for ICU patients (Memorial Hospital Belleville received a 5 out of 100 in this category, the lowest score given to any hospital.)
Memorial Hospital Belleville declined to report metrics for the following categories, according to Leapfrog:
Staff work together to prevent errors
Effective leadership to prevent errors
Nursing and bedside care for patients
“Memorial Hospital – Belleville and BJC HealthCare are committed to patient safety, and we support efforts to make quality outcomes data available to patients and to the public. We encourage people to seek out data on Medicare’s Care Compare site and we are also committed to transparency by providing links to this information on the BJC website,” BJC HealthCare spokesperson Laura High wrote in an emailed statement to the News-Democrat.
“The Leapfrog analysis is based on a methodology that is a composite of process and outcome measures, with most of the process data obtained from hospitals’ responses to a self-reported survey. We have concerns about relying on methodologies that utilize self-reporting on questionnaires, which in this case can carry a significant impact in the overall results. For these reasons, BJC HealthCare hospitals have never participated in the Leapfrog survey.
“We believe our approach – based on methodical study and careful ongoing evaluation of outcomes – is a more effective means of improving patient safety and that our rigorous discipline and process over the years has made a significant impact on improving quality of care. Memorial Hospital – Belleville is committed to providing the highest standard of care every day for every patient.”
HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon
Spring 2023 grade: A
Fall 2022 grade: A
Here are the areas in which HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon scored below average this fall:
MRSA infection
Surgical wounds split open
Blood leakage
Serious breathing problem
Falls causing broken hips
Dangerous blood clot
Safe medication administration
Hand washing (HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon received a 40 out of 100 for hand washing.)
HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon declined to report metrics for the following categories, according to Leapfrog:
Staff work together to prevent errors
Effective leadership to prevent errors
Nursing and bedside care for patients
HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese
Spring 2023 grade: B
Fall 2022 grade: C
Here are the areas in which HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese scored below average this fall:
C. diff infection (HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese received the lowest score given to any hospital in this category.)
Safe medication administration
Hand washing (The hospital received a 57 out of 100 for hand washing.)
HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese declined to report metrics for the following categories, according to Leapfrog:
Staff work together to prevent errors
Effective leadership to prevent errors
Nursing and bedside care for patients
Specially trained doctors care for ICU patients
Data about HSHS St. Joseph’s was unavailable for nine metrics, including MRSA infection, death from serious treatable complications, serious breathing problems and more. Data being unavailable for these metrics does not denote a lack of safety or a poor score.
“HSHS is committed to providing quality patient care and continues to proactively manage and measure internal quality improvement initiatives that lead to positive patient outcomes,” HSHS spokesperson Kelly Barbeau wrote in an emailed statement to the News-Democrat.
“There are a variety of healthcare quality rating organizations (e.g. Leapfrog, HealthGrades, US News) that review and publish hospital quality scores. No two organizations rely on the same criteria for their ratings, which may include publicly reported data, such as data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and state databases; their own proprietary quality measures; or a mixture of both.
“Both HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese and HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital supports the collection and publication of hospital quality data to help consumers make informed decisions about their health care. Since each rating organization relies on different metrics to create a quality ranking, grade or score for each hospital, it can be difficult to discern which ranking is most accurate.
“HSHS utilizes its internal quality teams to manage and measure a robust set of data and metrics, with the goal to continuously improve the standard of care. We have organized shared clinical quality governance councils to empower colleagues to have a voice in how to ensure our patients receive quality, safe and effective care. We also encourage patients and families to discuss individual care plans with their physician and care teams as part of their decision-making when choosing a hospital.”
Gateway Regional Medical Center
Spring 2023 grade: D
Fall 2022 grade: D
Here are the areas in which Gateway Regional Medical Center scored below average this fall:
Collapsed lung
Safe medication administration (Gateway Regional Medical Center received a 50 out of 100 for this measure. The average score given was 92.67.)
Hand washing (The hospital received a 40 out of 100 for hand washing.)
Communication about medicines
Communication about discharge
Communication with doctors
Communication with nurses
Responsiveness of hospital staff
Gateway Regional Medical Center declined to report metrics for the following categories, according to Leapfrog:
Staff work together to prevent errors
Effective leadership to prevent errors
Nursing and bedside care for patients
Data about Gateway Regional Medical Center’s performance was unavailable for three metrics, including MRSA infection, surgical site infection after colon surgery and death from serious treatable complications.
Gateway Regional Medical Center officials were not immediately available for comment.
Anderson Hospital
Spring 2023 grade: B
Fall 2022 grade: C
Here are the areas in which Anderson Hospital scored below average this fall:
Sepsis infection after surgery
Accidental cuts and tears
Safe medication administration
Hand washing (Anderson Hospital received a 59 out of 100 for hand washing.)
Specially trained doctors care for ICU patients (Anderson Hospital received a 5 out of 100 for this metric, the lowest score given to any hospital.)
Anderson Hospital officials declined to report metrics for the following categories, according to Leapfrog:
Staff work together to prevent errors
Effective leadership to prevent errors
Nursing and bedside care for patients
Data about death from serious treatable complications was unavailable for Anderson Hospital.
“Leapfrog is an independent organization that collects and reports one-of-a-kind data. There are many similar organizations, all using public information with differing methodologies,” Anderson Healthcare spokesperson Natalie Head wrote in an emailed statement to the News-Democrat.
“For the 2nd year in a row, Anderson Hospital ranked in the top 6% of hospitals in the United States through another independent study done by Newsweek. In 2021, Anderson Hospital was the only hospital in southwestern Illinois to earn a 5 Star Rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The annual CMS stars program serves as a healthcare guide to hospital quality, comprising more than 50 individual measures that include safety of care, readmissions, patient experience, hospital mortality and timely and effective care.
“Anderson Hospital participates in reporting quality information so it is available to the public. Links to national and state programs and organizations that provide these reports are readily available on our Quality page on our website.”
OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton
Spring 2023 grade: C
Fall 2022 grade: C
Here are the areas in which OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton scored below average this fall:
C. diff infection
Infection in the blood
Surgical site infection after colon surgery
Sepsis infection after surgery
Kidney injury after surgery
Serious breathing problem
Harmful events
Dangerous bed sores
Dangerous blood clot
Data about the hospital’s performance in MRSA infection, infection in the urinary tract and death from serious treatable complications was unavailable.
“Patient safety is always at the forefront of everything we do at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony’s Health Center. Our physicians, nurses and staff are dedicated to providing the safest, high quality care to those we serve. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses national performance measures. While we humbly accept this demonstration of our accomplishment, our team at OSF Saint Anthony’s also understands and embraces our need for continuous improvement. We know our journey to excellence is never done,” OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony’s Health Center President Jerald Rumph said in an emailed statement.
SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia
Spring 2023 grade: B
Fall 2022 grade: A
Here are the areas in which SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia scored below average this fall:
Doctors order medications through a computer
Safe medication administration
Hand washing (The hospital received a 52 out of 100 for hand washing.)
Specially trained doctors care for intensive care unit patients (SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia received a 5 out of 100 in this category, the lowest score given to any hospital.)
SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital officials declined to report metrics for the following categories, according to Leapfrog:
Staff work together to prevent errors
Effective leadership to prevent errors
Nursing and bedside care for patients
Data about the hospital’s performance for the metrics of MRSA infection, infection in the blood, infection in the urinary tract, surgical site infection after colon surgery and death from serious treatable complications was unavailable.
“SSM Health uses Vizient data and not the Leapfrog Group when benchmarking safety data. SSM Health continues to make patient safety a priority,” hospital spokesperson Erin Rinderer wrote in an email to the News-Democrat.
South City Hospital
Spring 2023 grade: C
Fall 2022 grade: D
Here are the areas in which South City Hospital scored below average this fall:
C. diff infection
Harmful events
Dangerous bed sores
Safe medication administration
Hand washing (South City Hospital received a 56 out of 100 for hand washing.)
Communication about medicines
Communication about discharge
Communication with doctors
Communication with nurses
South City Hospital officials declined to report metrics for the following categories, according to Leapfrog:
Staff work together to prevent errors
Effective leadership to prevent errors
Nursing and bedside care for patients
Specially trained doctors care for ICU patients
Data about South City Hospital’s performance for six metrics, including MRSA infection, surgical wounds split open and others was unavailable.
South City Hospital officials were not immediately available for comment.
How are hospital grades calculated?
Safety grades are calculated using up to 22 national safety measures from the Leapfrog survey, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other data sources. The full methodology is available online and is peer-reviewed and published by the Journal of Patient Safety.
Grades are composed 50% by process and structural measures and 50% by outcome measures. The scoring scales differ by the chosen measure.
Across the U.S., nearly 30% of hospitals received an “A,” 24% received a “B,” 39% received a “C,” 7% received a “D” and less than 1% received an “F” in the fall 2023 ratings.
How should you use these scores?
Leapfrog emphasizes you should not refuse emergency care based on hospital ratings. The group intends the scores to be used when planning things like childbirth, surgery referrals or chronic illness treatment.
The areas you should pay most attention to when choosing a hospital include handwashing, infection in the blood and patient falls, Leapfrog’s website says.
You should also consider how far off your hospital was from the average for any given standard. When evaluating a hospital, you can see the highest and lowest scores given, which helps in weighing a value.
The “below average” category can include hospitals that scored 0.01 points under goal, along with facilities with the lowest possible score.
For hospitals that responded to Leapfrog’s survey, there’s often information available about which areas the hospital has improved in and which areas are not going in the right direction.
A hospital being ungraded does not denote a lack of safety. Ratings are often unavailable for facilities that decline to self-report, as well as smaller providers, children’s hospitals, surgical centers and critical access hospitals.
Where can you find more hospital ratings?
Leapfrog allows you to search for hospitals by name, location or state. There’s an online search tool where you can find information about more hospitals.
This story may be updated.
