What are the safest hospitals in Charlotte? See latest grades for area facilities

Mary Ramsey
·2 min read

North Carolina hospitals are among some of the top-graded in the country, despite patient experience worsening and risk of healthcare-acquired infections rising nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, new data says.

The Tar Heel State finished sixth in the latest Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, released biannually, up one spot from the previous rankings. And multiple Charlotte-area healthcare facilities were among the 42% of hospitals statewide that got an “A” grade.

Grades are guided by a panel of medical experts and based on multiple factors related to patient safety.

Here’s what to know about the latest safety grades for Charlotte hospitals:

How safe are Charlotte hospitals?

Of the 20 Charlotte-area hospitals evaluated in Leapfrog’s study, nine received an “A” grade:

  • Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center, 200 Hawthorne Lane, Charlotte, NC 28204

  • Carolinas Medical Center, 1000 Blythe Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28203

  • Atrium Health - Mercy, 2001 Vail Ave., Charlotte, NC 28207

  • Novant Health Matthews Medical Center, 1500 Matthews Township Parkway, Matthews, NC 28105

  • Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center, 8201 Healthcare Loop, Charlotte, NC 28215

  • Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center, 10030 Gilead Road, Huntersville, NC 28078

  • CaroMont Regional Medical Center, 2525 Court Dr., Gastonia, NC 28054

  • Atrium Health Union, 600 Hospital Dr., Monroe, NC 28112-6000

  • Novant Health Rowan Medical Center, 612 Mocksville Ave., Salisbury, NC 28144

Additionally, six facilities in the region got a “B” grade:

  • Atrium Health Cabarrus, 920 Church St., Concord, NC 28025

  • Atrium Health Lincoln, 433 McAlister Road, Lincolnton, NC 28092

  • Atrium Health Pineville, 10628 Park Road, Charlotte, NC 28210

  • Atrium Health Stanly, 301 Yadkin St., Albemarle, NC 28001

  • Atrium Health University City, 8800 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28262

  • MUSC Health - Lancaster Medical Center, 800 W. Meeting St., Lancaster, SC 29720

And five area hospitals received a “C” grade:

  • Atrium Health Cleveland, 201 East Grover St., Shelby, NC 28150

  • Atrium Health Kings Mountain, 706 W. King St., Kings Mountain, NC 28086

  • Iredell Memorial Hospital, 557 Brookdale Dr., Statesville, NC 28677

  • Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, 171 Fairview Road, Mooresville, NC 28117

  • Piedmont Medical Center. 222 S. Herlong Ave., Rock Hill, SC 29732

No hospitals in the Charlotte area got “D” or “F” grades.

To see the full reports for every hospital listed, go to hospitalsafetygrade.org.

How to use hospital safety grades

Leapfrog’s system “rates hospitals on the very basics of medical care, such as handwashing, entering prescriptions through a computer, and the availability of highly-trained nurses,” the group says.

“You should never refuse care in an emergency because of a hospital’s Safety Grade, they add, but the grades can serve “as a guide for planned events and a research tool for potential emergencies.”

Three specific factors Leapfrog recommends looking at especially closely are handwashing, infection in the blood and patient falls.

The group also recommends looking at “recent past grades” to help make “clear which hospitals consistently achieve high standards of patient safety and which have demonstrated a steady path of improvement.”