New Pennsylvania Hospital Safety Grades Released

Max Bennett
Updated ·5 min read

PENNSYLVANIA — Several hospitals in Pennsylvania received top grades for safety while others didn’t quite measure up, according to new spring 2020 ratings released by the Leapfrog Group this week.

Safety grades are released by the nonprofit organization twice per year, in the spring and the fall. The ratings of more than 2,600 hospitals focus on accidents, injuries and infections, and help to assess how well a facility prevents medical errors and other harm to patients.

It’s worth noting the metrics used to determine this spring’s hospital grades originated from safety data reported for periods ending in 2018 and 2019. The report does not take into account the strain the new coronavirus outbreak is placing on some hospitals where staff are experiencing shortages of drugs and protection equipment.

In Pennsylvania:

  • 50 hospitals received an A grade.

  • 36 hospitals received a B grade.

  • 30 hospitals received a C grade.

  • seven hospitals received a D grade.

  • 0 hospitals received an F grade.

(See detailed list below)

The latest grades show 33 percent of hospitals nationwide earned an “A” grade while 25 percent earned a “B.” Some 35 percent earned a “C” grade, 7 percent a “D” and less than 1 percent received an “F” grade.

Here are the Leapfrog Group's spring 2020 grades for hospitals in Pennsylvania:

A Grade

  • Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington

  • Allegheny Valley Hospital, Natrona Heights

  • Butler Memorial Hospital, Butler

  • Chester County Hospital, West Chester

  • DLP Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown

  • Doylestown Hospital, Doylestown

  • Forbes Hospital, Monroeville

  • Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital, Bloomsburg

  • Geisinger Lewistown Hospital, Lewistown

  • Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Wilkes-Barre

  • Grove City Medical Center, Grove City

  • Heritage Valley Beaver, Beaver

  • Heritage Valley Sewickley, Sewickley

  • Holy Redeemer Hospital and Medical Center, Meadowbrook

  • Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

  • Indiana Regional Medical Center, Indiana

  • Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Jefferson Hills

  • Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster

  • Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest, Allentown

  • Lehigh Valley Hospital - Hazleton, Hazleton

  • Lehigh Valley Hospital - Muhlenberg, Bethlehem

  • Meadville Medical Center, Meadville

  • Penn Highlands Huntingdon, Huntingdon

  • Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia

  • Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey

  • St. Clair Hospital, Pittsburgh

  • St. Luke's Hospital - Allentown Campus, Allentown

  • St. Luke's Hospital - Anderson Campus, Easton

  • St. Luke's Hospital - Miners Campus, Coaldale

  • St. Luke's Monroe Campus, Stroudsburg

  • St. Luke's University Hospital - Bethlehem Campus, Bethlehem

  • St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne

  • UPMC Altoona, Altoona

  • UPMC Bedford Memorial, Everett

  • UPMC Carlisle, Carlisle

  • UPMC Community, Harrisburg

  • UPMC Hamot, Erie

  • UPMC Horizon - Shenango Valley Campus, Farrell

  • UPMC McKeesport, McKeesport

  • UPMC Mercy, Pittsburgh

  • UPMC Northwest, Seneca

  • UPMC PASSAVANT, Pittsburgh

  • UPMC Passavant - Cranberry, Cranberry Township

  • UPMC Presbyterian, Pittsburgh

  • UPMC St. Margaret, Pittsburgh

  • UPMC Susquehanna - Williamsport, Williamsport

  • WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital, Chambersburg

  • WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital, Ephrata

  • WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital, Gettysburg

  • West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh

B Grade

  • Abington Health Lansdale Hospital, Lansdale

  • Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh

  • Canonsburg General Hospital, Canonsburg

  • Clarion Hospital, Clarion

  • Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg

  • Geisinger Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill

  • Geisinger Medical Center, Danville

  • Jefferson Bucks, Langhorne

  • Jefferson Frankford, Philadelphia

  • Jefferson Torresdale, Philadelphia

  • Latrobe Hospital, Latrobe

  • Lehigh Valley Hospital - Pocono, East Stroudsburg

  • Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, Darby

  • Mercy Philadelphia Hospital, Philadelphia

  • Monongahela Valley Hospital, Monongahela

  • Penn Highlands DuBois, DuBois

  • Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia

  • Punxsutawney Area Hospital, Punxsutawney

  • Reading Hospital, West Reading

  • Saint Vincent Hospital, Erie

  • Sharon Regional Medical Center, Sharon

  • St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital, Quakertown

  • St. Luke's Sacred Heart Campus, Allentown

  • Suburban Community Hospital, East Norriton

  • Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia

  • Temple University Hospital Jeanes Campus, Philadelphia

  • UPMC East, Monroeville

  • UPMC Harrisburg, Harrisburg

  • UPMC Pinnacle Lititz, Lititz

  • UPMC Shadyside, Pittsburgh

  • UPMC Somerset, Somerset

  • UPMC West Shore, Mechanicsburg

  • Washington Hospital, Washington

  • Wellspan Good Samaritan Hospital, Lebanon

  • WellSpan York Hospital, York

  • Westmoreland Hospital, Greensburg

  • ACMH Hospital, Kittanning

C Grade

  • Bradford Regional Medical Center, Bradford

  • Brandywine Hospital, Coatesville

  • Bryn Mawr Hospital, Bryn Mawr

  • Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber, Windber

  • Easton Hospital, Easton

  • Einstein Medical Center Elkins Park, Elkins Park

  • Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, East Norriton

  • Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia

  • Geisinger Community Medical Center, Scranton

  • Geisinger Shamokin Area Community Hospital, Coal Township

  • Grand View Health, Sellersville

  • Jennersville Hospital, West Grove

  • Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood

  • Lehigh Valley Hospital - Schuylkill, Pottsville

  • Lower Bucks Hospital, Bristol

  • Moses Taylor Hospital, Scranton

  • Mount Nittany Medical Center, State College

  • Ohio Valley General Hospital, Mckees Rocks

  • Paoli Hospital, Paoli

  • Regional Hospital of Scranton, Scranton

  • Riddle Hospital, Media

  • St Joseph Regional Health Network dba St Joseph Medical Center, Reading

  • St. Luke's Gnaden Huetten Campus, Lehighton

  • Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia

  • Thomas Jefferson University Hospital - Methodist Hospital Campus, Philadelphia

  • UPMC Jameson, New Castle

  • UPMC Pinnacle Hanover, Hanover

  • UPMC Pinnacle Memorial, York

  • Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Wilkes-Barre

  • Crozer Chester Medical Center, Upland

D Grade

  • Nazareth Hospital, Philadelphia

  • Phoenixville Hospital, Phoenixville

  • Pottstown Hospital, Pottstown

  • Springfield Hospital, Springfield

  • Taylor Hospital, Ridley Park

  • Warren General Hospital, Warren

  • Wayne Memorial Hospital, Honesdale

To determine each state’s grade, Leapfrog used up to 28 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources. When averaged, performance measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.

The goal of the Hospital Safety Grade is to reduce deaths caused by hospital errors and injuries.

Leapfrog estimates that if the risk at all hospitals was equivalent to what it is at "A" hospitals, 50,000 lives at other facilities would have been saved. Overall, the researchers estimate that 160,000 lives are lost every year due to avoidable medical errors. That figure is down from 2016, when the Leapfrog Group estimated there were 205,000 avoidable deaths.

For a full description of the methodology, go here.

This article originally appeared on the Across Pennsylvania Patch