Newest hospital safety grades list four in Columbia and Lexington among the best in SC
Four hospitals in Columbia and Lexington received the highest mark possible in the safety grades released by a medical watchdog group Monday. Overall, most Midlands medical facilities received solid ratings since the last scores were released in the spring.
Lexington Medical Center earned another A grade in the report from the Leapfrog Group, which issues biannual safety rankings. This was the third consecutive A for Lexington Medical Center, and as was the case in the spring, it was joined by more hospitals in Columbia, which can be considered among the safest in South Carolina.
Since 2012, the Leapfrog Group has published Hospital Safety Scores twice a year — once in the spring and once during the fall — to create transparency in the U.S. health system. The rating is focused on “errors, accidents, injuries and infections.”
Based on this criteria, other Columbia hospitals received three A grades, one B and one C for the fall. Those include:
▪ Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge repeated its score from the spring ranking of A
▪ Prisma Health Baptist repeated its score from the spring ranking of A
▪ MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Northeast repeated its score from the spring ranking of A. The facility was formerly Providence Health Northeast.
▪ MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown’s grade dropped one letter from A in the spring ranking to B. The hospital was formerly Providence Health.
▪ Prisma Health Richland repeated its score from the spring ranking of C
One other hospital in the Midlands received an A, while another dropped from the top mark.
▪ MUSC Health Kershaw Medical Center’s grade rose one letter from B in the spring ranking to A
▪ Prisma Health Tuomey’s (in Sumter) grade dropped one letter from A in the spring ranking to B
▪ McCleod Health Clarendon in Manning’s grade rose one letter from C in the spring ranking to B
▪ Newberry County Memorial Hospital repeated its score from the spring ranking of C
▪ MUSC Health Orangeburg repeated its score from the spring ranking of C. The hospital was formerly Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties.
Grading South Carolina
Overall in South Carolina, of the 51 hospitals that were ranked, 22 received a letter A. That’s an improvement from 21 in the spring rankings.
No hospitals in the Palmetto State received either a D or F in the fall grades. That’s the second grading period in a row where no D’s or F’s have been issued in South Carolina.
The improvement of hospital grades was reflected in South Carolina’s standing among other states. Nationally, South Carolina ranked 5th among all states, with more than 43% of its hospitals scoring an A rating. That was an increase from the spring (41%), when the Palmetto State was ranked 7th in the nation.
The bigger picture
Utah (51.9%) saw a significant rise to become the top-rated state in the U.S. There was a five-way tie for lowest grade among North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington, D.C., as none had a hospital with an A grade.
“Upwards of 200,000 people die every year from preventable errors in hospitals,” the Leapfrog Group said. “It’s up to everyone to make sure that patient safety is the number one priority at every hospital across the United States.”
Leapfrog graded about 3,000 hospitals nationwide this spring, and 30% earned an A, 24% earned a B, 39% a C, 7% a D and less than 1% scored an F, according to its website.
The grades are based on safety data and rate how hospitals have “checks in place to prevent mistakes, and ensure strong lines of communication between hospital staff, patients, and families,” according to Leapfrog.
The new grades are the first to reflect hospital performance post-pandemic.
“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,” said Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder said. “However, there’s still more work to be done. It’s deeply concerning that patient reports about their health care experience continues to decline.”
Leapfrog said more than 500 people will die today because of a preventable hospital error, and every year 1-of-31 patients will develop a preventable infection while in the hospital.
“Leapfrog advises the public never to reject emergency treatment based on a safety score, but to consult with a doctor about the best hospital for planned, elective procedures,” the News & Observer of Raleigh previously reported.
But Leapfrog’s study shows that patients at ‘D’ and ‘F’ hospitals face a greater risk of dying than those at hospitals graded A.
Making the grade
The Leapfrog Group said more than 30 measures are used to generate hospital safety grades, and it reports on five patient experience measures that have a direct impact on patient safety outcomes: nurse communication, doctor communication, staff responsiveness, communication about medicine and discharge information.
The Leapfrog safety grade is divided into two domains: Process/Structural Measures and Outcome Measures.
▪ Process Measures represent how often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition or procedure. For example, “Responsiveness of hospital staff” looks at patients’ feedback on how long it takes for a staff member to respond when they request help. Structural Measures represent the environment in which patients receive care. For example, “Doctors order medications through a computer” represents whether a hospital uses a special computerized system to prevent errors when prescribing medications.
▪ Outcome Measures represent what happens to a patient while receiving care. For example, “Dangerous object left in patient’s body” measures how many times a patient undergoing surgery had a dangerous foreign object, like a sponge or tool, left in his or her body.
The Process Measures include:
▪ Computerized Physician Order Entry
▪ Bar Code Medication Administration
▪ ICU Physician Staffing
▪ Leadership Structures and Systems
▪ Culture Measurement, Feedback & Intervention
▪ Nursing Workforce
▪ Hand Hygiene
▪ Nurse Communication
▪ Doctor Communication
▪ Staff Responsiveness
▪ Communication about Medicines
▪ Discharge Information
The Outcome Measures include:
▪ Foreign Object Retained
▪ Air Embolism
▪ Falls and Trauma
▪ CLABSI
▪ CAUTI
▪ SSI: Colon
▪ MRSA
▪ C. Diff.
▪ Pressure Ulcer Rate
▪ Death Rate among Surgical Inpatients with Serious Treatable Conditions
▪ In-hospital fall with hip fracture rate
▪ Perioperative hemorrhage and hematoma rate
▪ Postoperative acute kidney injury rate
▪ Postoperative Respiratory Failure Rate
▪ Perioperative PE/DVT Rate
▪ Postoperative sepsis rate
▪ Postoperative Wound Dehiscence Rate
▪ Unrecognized Abdominopelvic Accidental Puncture/Laceration Rate
SOURCE: Leapfrog Medical Group
