Patient Safety Group Releases Hospital Grades

By Alyssa Schnugg

News editor

alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

Baptist Memorial Health Care – North Mississippi received a “C” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit that rates patient safety in hospitals.

However, the hospital was far from alone.

Out of Mississippi’s 41 hospitals, 23 received a “C,” including The University of Mississippi Medical Center. Six received a “B” and 12 got an “A.” One hospital received a “D.” No hospitals in Mississippi earned an “F.”

The grade is dictated by a hospital’s performance in infections, problems with surgery, safety problems, practices to prevent errors, and doctors, nurses and hospital staff.

The data was collected in 2022 with much of the data from 2021, when hospitals were dealing with the pandemic and staffing shortages. In the spring of 2022, BMH-MS received an “A.”

BMH-NM administrators say they are committed to improving.

“Providing quality care is our top priority, as is evidenced by our many safety awards and recognitions. In 2022, we were recognized as a top hospital by U.S. News & World Report and we collaborated on the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Comprehensive Quality Model to raise the bar for health care clinical quality and outcomes,” said Dr. Paul Levy, Chief Medical Officer at BMH-NM. “As a health care organization, we engage in continuous improvement and welcome any opportunity to enhance and advance the care we provide.”

Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades are assigned to about 3,000 general acute-care hospitals nationally twice a year. The Safety grades use up to 22 national patient safety measures from the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and other supplemental data.

Nationally, about 29 percent of the 3,000 hospitals received an “A” while 26 percent received a “B,” 39 percent received a “C,” 6 percent received a “D” and less than 1 percent received an “F.”

Leapfrog noted declines nationally in nurse communication, doctor communication, staff responsiveness, communication about medicine and discharge information since before the pandemic.

The view the Safety Grades of all hospitals, visit www.HospitalSafetyGrade.org.

Mississippi Today contributed to this story.