Saint Michael’s Medical Center in Newark has been awarded an A for the second consecutive period in the latest Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade report card.
The Spring 2019 designation recognizes Saint Michael’s efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care.
Saint Michael’s is one of 832 hospitals across the United States awarded an A by the Leapfrog Group, a national organization committed to improving health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers.
“Earning an A for two consecutive periods from a reputable ratings organization like Leapfrog demonstrates just how committed we are to patient safety at Saint Michael’s,” said CEO Robert Iannaccone. “This award would not be possible without the full buy-in from our employees and medical staff, who deserve the credit for putting patient safety first.”
Leapfrog assigns an A, B, C, D or F Hospital Safety Grade to hospitals based on their performance in preventing accidents, injuries and errors to patients.
“To be recognized nationally as an ‘A’ hospital is an accomplishment the whole community should take pride in,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Hospitals that earn an ‘A’ grade are making it a priority to protect patients from preventable medical harm and error. We congratulate hospital leaders, board members, staff, volunteers and clinicians who work so hard to earn this A.”
The second consecutive A from Leapfrog is just the latest indication that Saint Michael’s has made a full recovery from the Spring of 2016, when it received an F from the Leapfrog report card.
At the time, the hospital had been just purchased out of bankruptcy protection by Prime Healthcare, a national healthcare system well-known for operating hospitals with some of the highest safety standards in the country.
Because of the precarious financial condition of Saint Michael’s prior to the sale to Prime Healthcare, the previous owners of Saint Michael’s stopped submitting surveys to Leapfrog Group, which resulted in the failing grade.
Under Prime Healthcare’s ownership, Saint Michael’s had the resources needed to achieve a new level of intense focus on patient quality and safety.
On Tuesday, Saint Michael’s announced it was the only hospital in Newark to receive the 2019 Patient Safety Excellence Award from Healthgrades, which recognizes excellence in clinical care that leads to fewer complications and better patient outcomes.
Saint Michael’s is the only hospital in Newark and one of only six in New Jersey to receive an overall five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the federal agency’s latest hospital performance report released in March.
Developed under the guidance of a national Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.
To see Saint Michael’s full grade details, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.