New hospital safety grades are out: How did SWFL hospitals do?

Lee Health’s four hospitals have maintained top marks for patient safety while the NCH Healthcare System saw its two campuses slip in grades, according to the latest from the Leapfrog Group.

The nonprofit NCH system in Collier County received a “B” grade for its downtown Baker Hospital after having “A” grades for 2022.

At its North Naples hospital, the current grade is a “C”, slipping from “A” grades in earlier grading cycles.

Physicians Regional Healthcare System, also in Collier, has two campuses that were graded and both received “C” grades.

Lehigh Regional Medical Center in Lee received a "C" grade, the same as the last two grading cycles.

Lee Health, the publicly operated system in Lee County, said it was pleased with the new grades.

More: Are patients safe in Southwest Florida hospitals? New grades out and it's looking good

“These grades speak to the high level of care our patients can expect to receive at any of our hospitals,” Dr. Stephanie Stovall, chief clinical officer of quality/safety and hospital-based care, said in a news release.

“I am honored to work with the Lee Health team and I want to thank them for continuing to provide the safest and highest quality of care to our patients,” she said.

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Leapfrog grades hospitals twice a year, in spring and fall, on measures that involve infections, issues with surgery, falls, practices to prevent errors and other measures. All told, 30 different measures are used.

Data used for the latest grades covers late 2021 and 2022, according to Leapfrog.

Physicians Regional spokeswoman Brittney Thoman said the system is committed to providing safe, quality care for every patient.

“While our hospital grade fell in the spring release, the underlying metrics show improvement in several metrics, including hospital acquired infections,” she said.

“Our leadership team and providers are focused on national safety goals and Leapfrog initiatives to continually strengthen safety in the care we provide and we are intensifying our work to document and appropriately capture data,” she added.

Statewide 183 hospitals were graded while 2,700 hospitals nationwide are included.

NCH focuses on transparency, improvements

NCH, which has a combined 713 beds, faced some “worse than average” findings on infections, safety and communications, according to the data.

Some of the findings were tied to coding errors, such as patients’ experiencing breathing difficulty, and those have been fixed, according to Dr. Carlos Quintero, NCH’s chief quality officer.

“One of the challenges with Leapfrog is that it relies on hospital measures, and some hospitals are better than others at finding, tracking, and reporting things like infections or objects left inside patients,” he said in an email. “NCH has focused on being transparent and reporting anything found.”

The COVID-19 pandemic was hugely challenging to hospitals and some of that is reflected in the data outcomes, he said.

“At the height of the pandemic, hospitals across the country faced staffing shortages, an influx of patients, increased infections, and more critical cases due to people prolonging care,” he said.

“Another unfortunate impact was the policy of “no hospital visitors,” which resulted in no family or friends being able to visit patients, and increased patient falls,” he said.

Quintero said while the Leapfrog results are disappointing, NCH has already received accolades and top scores with other reporting agencies that show how NCH is focused on excellence in safety and quality.

Some examples include the Society of Thoracic Surgery for coronary artery bypass surgery, and a four-star rating from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Healthgrades top 100 hospital ratings.

“NCH constantly monitors data and opportunities to continue improving the patient experience,” he said.

Quality and safety advancements were implemented over a year ago with positive outcomes that are not reflected in the Leapfrog scores, he said.

What happened with infections?

Leapfrog reports that the COVID-19 pandemic had significant impact on infections that patients experienced in hospitals that impacted their experience and well being.

The average risk of three hospital-related infections spiked to a five-year high nationwide, the data shows. That includes from Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA, bloodstream infections from central lines and urinary tract infections.

The safety grades also show a continued decline in patient experience measures, which are reported by patients and correlated with patient outcomes.

“The dramatic spike in (hospital acquired infections) reported in this safety grade cycle should stop hospitals in their tracks, infections like these can be life or death for some patients,” Leah Binder, president and chief executive officer of The Leapfrog Group said in a news release.

“We recognize the tremendous strain the pandemic put on hospitals and their workforce, but alarming findings like these indicate hospitals must recommit to patient safety and build more resilience,” she said.

How did Florida hospitals stack up?

There were 181 hospitals in Florida that were part of the analysis and another two hospitals were not graded. Here’s a breakdown:

• Statewide 64 hospitals got “A” grades

• 42 got “B” grades.

• 65 got “C” grades.

• 10 got “D” grades

• Two hospitals did not get grades

Some of the hospital’s on the west coast of the state that got “A” grades are Advent Tampa, HCA Florida Englewood, HCA Florida Sarasota Doctor’s, HCA Florida St. Lucie and Sarasota Memorial Hospital

Some other hospitals on the state’s west coast with “B” grades are HCA Florida Blake in Bradenton, HCA Florida South Tampa, Lakewood Ranch Medical in Manatee County.

Some other west coast hospitals that got “C” grades are Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, Bravara Health Brooksville, HCA Florida Fawcett in Port Charlotte, HCA Florida Oak Hill in Brooksville, ShorePoint Health Port Charlotte, ShorePoint Health Punta Gorda, and Tampa General Hospital.

A west coast hospital with “D” grades include Manatee Memorial in Bradenton.

One of the two hospitals not graded was Desoto Memorial in Arcadia.

What else does the national data show?

The grades show a continued decline in patient experience measures, which are reported by patients and correlated with patient outcomes, according to Leapfrog.

Nationally, the data shows the average ratio for central line infections went up 60%, for MRSA by 37% and for urinary tract infections where a catheter is used up by 19%, according to Leapfrog.

• Across the U.S., 32 states had a significant increase in central line bloodstream infections with the biggest increase in West Virginia.

• 18 states had significant increases in MRSA, with the biggest increase also in West Virginia.

• 11 states had a significant increase in urinary tract infections with use of a catheter, with the biggest increase in New Mexico.

“Not only are (hospital acquired infections) among the leading causes of death in the U.S., they also increase length of hospitalization stays and add to costs,” Binder said. “Our pre-pandemic data showed improved (hospital infection) measures, but the spring 2023 safety grade data spotlights how hospital responses to the pandemic led to a decline in patient safety and HAI management.”

Additional highlights from the spring 2023 report include:

• 29 % of hospitals received an “A,” 26% received a “B,” 39% received a “C,” 6% received a “D,” and less than 1% received an “F.”

• The top 10 states with the highest percentages of “A” hospitals are: New Jersey, Idaho, Utah, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Virginia and Massachusetts.

• There were no “A” hospitals in Delaware, the District of Columbia or North Dakota.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: How safe is your hospital? New grades out by Leapfrog Group