ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital receives A from hospital safety group

ADRIAN TWP. — ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital has received top marks from an independent nonprofit organization that reviews hospital patient safety.

The hospital received an “A” Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade for spring 2022, a news release said.

“This award is a tangible recognition of the hard work our staff and employees have done to improve and maintain patient quality and safety. We are excited to share this with our community,” said Dr. Julie Yaroch, president of ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital, “Our diligent work to keep patients and our community safe has paid off.”

The Leapfrog Group assigns an A, B, C, D or F grade to general hospitals across the country based on more than 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and infections as well as systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm, the release said. Grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring.

“As our health care system continues to feel the strain of the pandemic, I thank the workforce and leadership of ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital for sustained commitment to patient safety, day in and day out,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in the release. “An ‘A’ Safety Grade is an outstanding achievement, and one that is not possible without a 24/7 effort by the entire health care workforce to protect patients from harm. This community should be proud.”

To see ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital’s full grade details, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org.

Other area hospitals also scored well. ProMedica Flower Hospital in Sylvania, Ohio, and ProMedica Toledo Hospital also received A's, as did Mercy St. Anne Hospital in Toledo, Chelsea Hospital, Henry Ford Jackson Hospital, the University of Michigan and Trinity Health St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor. Hillsdale Hospital, the University of Toledo Medical Center and ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital received C's.

Overall, Michigan's hospitals are the fifth safest nationally, according to Leapfrog's report. Only hospitals in North Carolina, Virginia, Utah and Colorado ranked higher than Michigan in the biannual report.

Of the more than 80 Michigan hospitals The Leapfrog Group reviewed, 41 got an "A" grade; another 22 earned a "B" grade; 17 were given a "C" grade. Only one got a "D." No hospital in Michigan got an "F," or failing, grade.

Michigan Medicine, the Ann Arbor-based health system affiliated with the University of Michigan, is the only hospital in the state to get straight "A" grades over the last 10 years of Leapfrog's reporting.

The only hospital to get a "D" grade on the latest report is Hurley Hospital in Flint. Hurley has had a "D" grade consistently since the fall of 2019 report. In the spring of 2019, Hurley was the only hospital in Michigan to get an "F" grade.

The Detroit Free Press contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: ProMedica Hickman Hospital receives A from hospital safety group