Report card: How did Jacksonville-area hospitals fare in latest patient safety grades?

Seven of the 14 full-service hospitals in the Jacksonville area received "A" grades in a national health care watchdog organization’s latest patient safety survey.

Baptist Medical Center Beaches, Baptist Medical Center Nassau, Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, Baptist Medical Center South, HCA Florida Memorial Hospital, Mayo Clinic and UF Health Jacksonville got top marks.

Ascension St. Vincent's Southside Hospital, Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, and UF Health North received "B" grades, while Ascension St. Vincent's Clay County, Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside Hospital, HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital and HCA Florida Putnam Hospital got "C" grades.

What do the patient safety grades mean?

Twice a year since 2012, Leapfrog, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, has assigned letter grades from "A" to "F" to nearly 3,000 full-service U.S. hospitals.

The grades are based on data provided by the hospitals on national performance measures. The data tracks 28 measures, including medical errors, injuries, accidents and infections, to show how well hospitals prevent patient harm. An estimated 160,000 people die every year because of "avoidable medical errors," according to Leapfrog.

"Our letter grade scoring system allows consumers to quickly assess the safety of their local hospital and choose the safest hospital to seek care," according to Leapfrog. "As consumers use the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade more and more, we hope more hospitals will be compelled to be open about their safety and quality, and participate in meaningful public reporting."

What measures are most important?

Leapfrog suggests at least checking hospital scores on staff handwashing policies, patient blood infections and patient falls.

"The Safety Grade rates hospitals on the very basics of medical care, such as handwashing, entering prescriptions through a computer and the availability of highly trained nurses," according to Leapfrog. "We know 'A' hospitals do a better job at preventing errors."

How did Florida hospitals fare?

Florida was ninth in the country for the most "A" hospitals, with 38%, up from the 35.4% in the earlier 2023 ranking.

But the state was also one of five with the "most significant declines' in five specific patient experience categories: nurse communication, doctor communication, staff responsiveness, communication about medicines and discharge information, according to Leapfrog.

Other states in the top 10 for "A" hospitals were Utah Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Connecticut, Montana, Tennessee and Texas. No hospitals earned "A" grades in Wyoming, Delaware, Washington, D.C. and North Dakota.

What were the findings nationwide?

Nearly 30% of U.S. hospitals earned “A” grades, 24% earned "B” grades and 39% earned “C” grades. About 7% earned “D” grades and less than 1% earned “F" grades.

The key finding was that the number of patients who caught infections while hospitalized was "significantly reduced" since the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was a spike of infections, according to Leapfrog.

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"Now that we have pre- and post-pandemic data for patient safety measures, we are encouraged by the improvement," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group.

But nationwide patient experience measures, which are based on patient surveys following hospital visits, declined for the second year in a row. That finding was "deeply concerning," Binder said, and showed "there’s still more work to be done."

"In talking with hospital leaders, we believe staffing shortages are one key reason for the continueddecline," she said. "Many hospitals are innovating to help make patient experience better, which iscritical because these results are disheartening and unsustainable."

What do area hospital leaders say?

Staff at Baptist Health hospitals, which all received "A" grades, view caring for patients as a privilege they "don't take lightly," President and CEO Michael Mayo said. "We know patients have a choice when it comes to their health care and our team members strive to make patients and their families feel safe and supported with every interaction."

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UF Health Jacksonville received its first "A" in the latest grades. CEO Patrick Green attributed the improvement to "a dedication to excellence … It is a testament that patient safety is paramount to everything we do at UF Health."

"Our focus has always been continuous improvement," he said.

Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, typically ranked as one of the best hospitals in the country, was in the "A" group as well. "Mayo Clinic is the only healthcare organization that consistently ranks among the top providers nationwide regardless of the quality measure used," according to a Mayo statement.

Area HCA Florida facilities did not submit data for the latest Leapfrog survey, according to spokeswoman Rachel Berry. The grades they received were based on other publicly available data, she said.

"The health care industry has seen an increase in surveys asking for inputs that don’t always focus on what matters most — clinical outcomes," she said. "We paused our submissions while we determine if their metrics correlate with true hospital performance in purely patient outcomes."

In Leapfrog's spring ratings, HCA Florida Memorial received an "A" grade, while HCA Florida Orange Park and HCA Florida Putnam received "C" grades.

Ascension did not comment on their area hospitals' latest Leapfrog grades.

For area hospitals' safety grades and more related information, go to hospitalsafetygrade.org.

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Half of 14 Jacksonville-area hospitals get 'A' patient safety grades