See how Sarasota-Manatee area hospitals fared in latest safety national safety grades

Sarasota County’s three hospitals all earned "A" grades in the fall 2023 safety report cards released Monday by The Leapfrog Group.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital, HCA Florida Englewood Hospital and HCA Florida Doctors Hospital all continued streaks of consecutive A grades.

The hospitals also fared well in the recent Healthgrades specialty hospital rankings.

The Sarasota Memorial Hospital Venice campus, which opened in late 2021, has not been in operation long enough to be included in the rankings.

HCA Florida Englewood Hospital is one of only two hospitals in Florida to receive 23 straight A’s for hospital safety from The Leapfrog Group.

The Englewood hospital and Advent Health Daytona Beach hold that distinction since they have been participating in the national nonprofit’s voluntary survey since grades were awarded in 2012.

“Twenty-three straight A’s for patient safety reflects the dedication of our physicians, nurses and colleagues who show up for our patients with exceptional care every day,” HCA-Englewood CEO Joe Rudisill said in a prepared statement. “We are extremely proud of our colleagues at Englewood Hospital who continue to raise the bar year after year.

“This commitment to continuously improve the safety of our patients throughout their care journey has led to a consistent level of excellence held by few hospitals.”

Sarasota Memorial, which first participated in 2016, has a streak of 16 straight A’s.

Leapfrog assigns letter grades to nearly 3,000 general hospitals on how well they prevent medical errors, infections, and injuries.

“Amidst all the difficulties and disruptions from the pandemic, national labor shortages and devastating impacts of Hurricane Ian, SMH physicians and staff have demonstrated their resourcefulness, resiliency and enduring commitment to our community,” Sarasota Memorial Health Care System CEO David Verinder said in a prepared statement.

The new grades reflect how effective hospitals were in reducing healthcare-acquired infections after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Now that we have pre- and post-pandemic data for patent safety measures, we are encouraged by the improvement in infections and applaud hospitals for reversing the disturbing infection spike we saw during the pandemic,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a prepared statement. “However, there’s still more work to be done.

“It’s deeply concerning that patient reports about their health care experience continues to decline.”

Nationally, hospitals significantly reduced three healthcare acquired infections – Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract  infections (CAUTI).

All three reached a five-year high during the pandemic.

The overall safety grades can be found at https://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org which is the best place to find more details on hospital strengths and weaknesses.

Sarasota County hospital results

Sarasota Memorial Hospital ranked among the best hospitals in the country for dealing with safety problems such as harmful events following a surgery; practices to prevent errors and doctors, nurses and hospital staff training to prevent errors. It ranked better than average in infection prevention – and among the best in preventing MRSA but ranked closer to average in preventing blood and urinary tract infections, as well as surgical site infections after colon surgery and c. diff infections – a germ that causes diarrhea and colitis.

It is the only Sarasota County hospital to participate in Leapfrog’s patient survey. Those results can be found at: https://bit.ly/3QLVPbB.

HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital ranked among the best in preventing MRSA, blood and urinary tract infections, leaving dangerous objects in a patient’s body, air or gas in the blood, doctors ordering medication through a computer, safe medication administration and handwashing.

It ranked below average in preventing sepsis after surgery; and below average in communicating with patients about their medication.

HCA Florida Englewood Hospital ranked among the best in avoiding leaving dangerous objects, patient falls and injuries, air or gas in the blood, doctors ordering medication through a computer, safe medication administration and handwashing.

Manatee County hospital results

Lakewood Ranch Medical Center earned its fourth consecutive B grade – and ranked as high as an A hospital in the fall 2021 results – turned in the highest grades for Manatee County-based hospitals.

It ranked among the best in dealing with blood infections avoiding leaving dangerous objects in the body, air or gas bubbles in the blood, doctors ordering medication through computers, safe medication administration, handwashing, staff working together to prevent errors, effective leadership to prevent errors, and specially trained doctors caring for ICU patients.

It ranked below average in urinary tract infections and sepsis infection after surgery and dealing with a collapsed lung, nursing and bedside care for patients.

Its Leapfrog patient survey results can be found at: https://bit.ly/3Qvx0iS.

HCA Florida Blake Hospital slipped to a C grade in the fall rankings, after two straight B report cards.

It ranked among the best hospitals in avoiding leaving dangerous objects in a body after surgery, patient falls and air or gas bubbles the blood and having specially trained doctors care for patients in the ICU.

It did rank below average in dealing with dangerous blood clots and surgical infection after colon surgery.

Manatee Memorial Hospital improved to a C grade after slipping to a D in the spring 2023 grades.

It ranks among the best hospitals in avoiding leaving dangerous objects in a body after surgery, doctors ordering medication through a computer, safe medication administration and handwashing and hospital staff to prevent errors.

With respect to dealing with infections, it ranks significantly below average in surgical site infection after colon surgery and sepsis infection after surgery.

It ranks below average in safety because of below average scores in harmful events, dangerous bedsores and patient falls and injuries,

Its Leapfrog patient survey results can be found at: https://bit.ly/40uvhiE.

Charlotte County hospital results

HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte earned its  second consecutive C grade after three consecutive B grades.

It ranked among the best hospitals in preventing dangerous objects left in a patient’s body.

It ranked below average in preventing MRSA infections and sepsis infection after surgery.

Shore Point Health Port Charlotte posted its second consecutive C grade, after improving to a B in the fall of 2022.

It ranked among the best in preventing MRSA and urinary tract infections, dangerous objects left in a patient, preventing an air or gas bubbles in the blood; below average in having surgical wounds split open, blood leakage and significantly below average in deaths from serious treatable complications.

Its Leapfrog patient survey results can be found at: https://bit.ly/3SxaUPE.

Shore Point Health Punta Gorda earned a C grade for at least the eighth straight consecutive period.

It ranked among the worst in nursing and bedside care for patients, specially trained doctors care for ICU patients.

It ranked among the best hospitals in dealing with urinary tract infections and infections in the blood, air or gas bubbles in the blood, doctors ordering medication through a computer and safe medication administration, handwashing, staff working together to prevent errors and effective leadership to prevent errors. It ranked below average in accidental cuts and tears, harmful events following a surgery, dangerous bed sores, patient falls and injuries, falls causing broken hips, and dangerous blood clots.

Its Leapfrog patient survey results can be found at: https://bit.ly/47n13Qu.

A biannual report card

Two times a year, the nonprofit Leapfrog Group scores hospitals on how well they keep patients safe from medical errors, infections, accidents and other harm to patients in their care.

It gives “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” letter grades to hospitals across the country on more than 30 different performance measures, including rates of injuries, accidents, infections and systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm and medical errors.

This year, nearly 30% of the hospitals received a “A,” 24% received a “B,” 39% received a “C,” 7% received a “D.” Less than 1% received an “F.”

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm to patients and assigns a letter grade to almost 3,000 hospitals around the country.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: The Leapfrog Group: Here's how area hospitals fared in safety survey