How safe are Central Jersey hospitals? The grades are in
Five Central Jersey hospitals received A ratings in the fall 2023 Hospital Safety Grades from the Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit advocating patient safety.
Five received B marks and two were graded C. Leapfrog issues its grades twice a year in the spring and fall.
Earning the top ratings were:
Hunterdon Medical Center, Raritan Township
Morristown Medical Center
Overlook Medical Center, Summit
Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, Plainsboro
Robert Wood Johnson Rahway
Receiving a B grade were:
Hackensack Meridian Old Bridge
Hackensack Meridian Raritan Bay, Perth Amboy
Robert Wood Johnson University, New Brunswick
Robert Wood Johnson University Somerset, Somerville
St. Peter's University, New Brunswick
The two hospitals receiving C grades were:
Hackensack Meridian JFK University, Edison
Trinitas Regional, Elizabeth
All the top-rated hospitals maintained their A ratings from the spring grades.
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“We are proud to be nationally recognized for patient safety by receiving eight consecutive A grades. This signifies our outstanding effort and attention to patient safety which is at the forefront of everything we do,” said Patrick Gavin, president and CEO of Hunterdon Health.
Dropping from A to B were Hackensack Meridian Old Bridge and Hackensack Meridian Raritan Bay.
The only other drop in grade from the spring rating was Hackensack Meridian JFK University, which went from B to C after it had risen from C to B previously.
The hospitals are graded on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections.
In addition, the hospitals are graded on five patient experience measures that evidence suggests are closely associated with patient safety issues. The scores for the measures are calculated by patient responses to a national patient survey following a hospital visit when patients are asked to rate nurse communication, doctor communication, staff responsiveness, communication about medicine, and discharge information
Nationwide, nearly 30% of hospitals earned an A, 24% earned a B, 39% earned a C, 7% earned a D and less than 1% earned an F.
No New Jersey hospital was ranked below C.
Utah is the state with the highest percentage of A hospitals. The other top 10 states for A hospitals are Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Connecticut, Montana, Tennessee, Florida and Texas.
States with the least favorable performance are Vermont, Wyoming, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and North Dakota, where no hospitals earned an A.
In this most recent ranking, New Jersey ranked 13th for percentage of A hospitals, a decrease from the spring ranking when New Jersey was ranked first.
The report card shows that 76% of New Jersey hospitals, 51 of 67 hospitals, received an A or B grade, compared to 78% in the spring. Five hospitals went up a grade; 17 went down a grade.
“The drop in A’s reminds us that quality improvement is a continuous journey that requires attention and persistence," Adelisa Perez-Hudgins, director of Quality for the New Jersey Healthcare Quality Institute, said in a press release. "Top-rated hospitals are focused on evaluation, education, and supporting people working at all levels of their organization.”
Nationally, patient experience scores worsened for the second year in a row, and all states experienced a significant decline in reported patient experience from the fall 2021 to the fall 2023 Safety Grade, according to Leapfrog.
Patient experience reports show the most significant declines in the categories of “communication about medicines” and “responsiveness of hospital staff,” Leapfrog reported.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ hospital safety rankings for fall 2023
