US Hospitals Graded, How Did The Capital District Fare?

The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization recently released a report studying 2, 652 hospitals in the U.S. and created the Hospital Safety Score based on how the hospitals did with regards to patient safety.
As I wrote recently in yesterday’s blog, hospital errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States.  The Leapfrog group provided a statistic which most of us have heard, but nonetheless is shocking each time I think about what it means:  hospital errors cause 400 patient deaths each day in the U.S.; the equivalent of a full, large jet plane crashing every day and killing all aboard.  Another frightening fact the report revealed was, “one fourth of all Medicare patients who come out of hospital, do so with a potentially fatal issue; an issue they did not have before they came into hospital.”

The report graded hospitals on a scale of A to F, with A being best and F being worst with regards to patient safety.  The scores were calculated by examining data on medical errors, medication errors, patient injuries, and infections.

The report revealed that of the 2,652 hospitals surveyed:

• 729 received an ‘A’
• 679 received a ‘B’
• 1,243 received a ‘C’ or below

So how did the Capital District do?

• Grade B:  Ellis Medicine and St Mary’s Hospital of Troy received the highest rating in the region grading in at a ‘B’
• Grade C:  St. Peter’s Hospital of Albany, Saratoga Hospital, Albany Memorial, Samaritan Hospital of Troy, St Mary’s of Amsterdam, Nathan Littauer Hospital, and Columbia Memorial Hospital of Hudson
• Albany Medical Center’s score was still pending as of June 12, 2012

The group stated that their hope was for patients to identify the best hospitals in their area to be treated in.  The report is easy to use; just enter your location and the site will take you to a list of hospitals with their respective grades.  You can even take it one step forward and click on the full report for each individual hospital that may be of interest to you.

But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  I welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com .  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.