Insurance buyers grade hospital safety; local facilities get A's and B's

The Leapfrog Group says its scorecard aims for safer hospitals. Take a NEWS POLL.

A national group of health care buyers released a report on hospital safety, saying consumers can use it to push for more precaution.

The report last week from the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization of employers and other large health care buyers, gave no hospital in Northampton, Warren, Hunterdon or Lehigh counties a grade worse than a B.

If a hospital earned a poor grade in the report, said Missy Danforth, senior director of hospital ratings for the group, patients might want to look for another hospital.

“The other thing they can do is just have a discussion with their doctor. Say, ‘You’re admitting me to a hospital that earned a D or an F,’” she said. “If there’s pressure from patients like that, patient safety will become a much higher priority for these hospitals.”

The report used a Leapfrog survey and two years of data that hospitals report to federal agencies. It measured preventable hospital errors, infections and injuries at more than 2,600 hospitals across the U.S. It was the second time Leapfrog released a safety scorecard.

Some hospitals that received grades worse than an A have questioned Leapfrog’s findings, as has the American Hospital Association, which represents more than 5,000 hospitals.

When Leapfrog released its first scorecard in June, association President Rich Umbdenstock told Leapfrog in a letter that the findings were “neither fair nor accurate” and that “no one should use it to guide their choice in hospitals.”

The hospital association said Leapfrog leaned too heavily on its own survey and that Leapfrog’s work wasn’t vetted by a third party.

“They use performance measures that rate hospitals differently on whether they responded to a survey or not,” said Denise Rader, spokeswoman for St. Luke’s Health Network, which did not respond to the survey. St. Luke's had four hospitals graded by Leapfrog, one with an A and three with B's.

Eight of Leapfrog’s 26 grading criteria depend on the survey. Hospitals that did not respond to the survey had those eight criteria removed from their grading.

Dave Knowlton, president of the New Jersey Healthcare Quality Institute and co-chairman of the Leapfrog report committee, defended the findings.

“Any instance where you have a safety concern is a concern regardless,” he said. He said some of what is measured by the study includes “never events, events that should never happen in a hospital."

"Consumers have a right to know this information in an easily understandable, decipherable way,” he said.

Pennsylvania ranked 20th and New Jersey 15th out of 50 states in overall hospital safety.

Preventable hospital errors, infections and injuries harm 1 in 4 hospital patients and kill more than 180,000 Americans each year, according to Leapfrog. If medical errors were a disease, Leapfrog says, it would be the sixth leading cause of death in America.

The latest scorecard, which uses 2010 and 2011 data, shows safety improvement since the first scorecard, which used 2010 data, according to Leapfrog.

Hospitals that received A's released statements saying the findings underscore their dedication to patient safety.

“These A scores for hospital safety are evidence of the passion, expertise and compassion demonstrated by all of my colleagues in taking care of our community,” Lehigh Valley Health Network CEO Ronald Swinfard said in a statement.

"Hunterdon Healthcare places patient safety first and foremost in their performance every day. Our A rating represents a commitment to quality healthcare outcomes that meet not just our standards, but national ones,” said Robert Coates, vice president of medical affairs for Hunterdon Healthcare, the parent of Hunterdon Medical Center.

GRADING OUT

The Leapfrog Group provided the following safety grades for local hospitals. Click each hospital to link to its full report.

• St. Luke’s Hospital in Fountain Hill: B
• St. Luke’s Hospital in Phillipsburg (Warren Hospital): B
• Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township: A
• Lehigh Valley Hospital -- Muhlenberg: A
• Hunterdon Medical Center: A
• Pocono Medical Center: B
  

The Leapfrog report doesn’t grade Easton Hospital, Sacred Heart Hospital or St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem Township, Pa. Leapfrog said some hospitals were left out because of limited data.