New Data Sheds Light on Hospital Safety

WASHINGTON — New research shows that despite improvements in many aspects of patient safety, hospitals have not been able to improve things such as surgical site infections.

New data has been released from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that compiles The Hospital Safety Score to help consumers make choices about their health care and to help health care purchasers structure their contracts and reward higher performing hospitals. The data provides updated patient safety ratings for more than 2,500 general hospitals. The Hospital Safety Score assigns A, B, C, D and F grades to hospitals based on their ability to prevent errors, injuries and infections.

Leapfrog found that while hospitals have made significant improvements when it comes to implementing processes of care and safe practices, performance on outcomes lags behind. Since April 2014, there’s been improvement on all 15 of Leapfrog’s “process” measures, such as hand hygiene and physician staffing in intensive care units. However, the data also points to a lack of progress on outcomes, with hospitals even declining on certain measures, such as preventing surgical site infections in patients who have undergone major colon surgery. Up to 400,000 lives are lost annually and one in 25 patients acquire an infection in the hospital.

“While the data tells us that hospitals are improving their safe practices, it’s concerning to see them moving backwards on any measure. Patients enter a hospital trusting they’re in a safe place, but with 41 percent of hospitals receiving a ‘C,’ ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade, it’s clear that some hospitals are safer than others,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, in a statement.

Of the 2,520 hospitals issued a Hospital Safety Score, 790 earned an A, 688 earned a B, 868 earned a C, 148 earned a D and 26 earned an F.

The Hospital Safety Scores have been released at a time when Ebola has attracted attention on patient safety. The spotlight has been on Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas for its apparent missteps in diagnosing an Ebola patient. However, this hospital received an “A” grade on the fall 2014 Hospital Safety Score for its past performance on safety measures.

“Though we don’t have much data on infectious diseases specifically, such as Ebola, we know that some hospitals are much better than others at preventing harm. Yet even ‘A’ hospitals make mistakes, and sometimes patients are harmed. Based on the data Leapfrog used in the Hospital Safety Score, Texas Health Presbyterian is among the safer hospitals in the nation. The recent mishandling of Ebola cases proves that as a country, our hospitals must work harder to become prepared for this and any future threats,” Binder said.