October 31, 2017

Harrington Hospital Achieves 12th Straight “A” for Safety; Patient Experience Scores on the Rise

SOUTHBRIDGE, MA, October 31, 2017 – The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit healthcare rating organization, announced updated Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades and awarded Harrington Hospital an elite designation of “Straight As” for its ongoing achievements in patient safety.

Harrington is one of only 59 hospitals in the United States and the only hospital in central Massachusetts, to be awarded an “A” consistently since 2012.

Read: The 59 Hospitals with Straight A’s

The only other hospitals in Massachusetts to receive 12 straight A’s include Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Cape Cod Hospital, Addison Gilbert in Gloucester and Beverly Hospital.

“To be one of only 59 hospitals in the entire country to receive 12 straight ‘A’ grades for our efforts to keep our patients safe is a remarkable achievement and one we are proud to accept,” said Ed Moore, President and CEO.

Developed under the guidance of an Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient-safety experts, peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

The grade comes on the heels of other notable achievements within Harrington’s quality department. Recent Press Ganey scores indicate the hospital is not only meeting but surpassing its patient satisfaction goals, landing in the 96^th percentile for outpatient services (with a goal of 90^th percentile), achieving 78.1 for inpatient services (with a goal of 74.4) and exceeding scores in the Emergency Department with 72 out of a projected 70.6.

Nationwide, Press Ganey supports more than 26,000 health care providers in understanding and improving the entire patient experience through measures like census-based surveys and engagement efforts.

In addition, recent results from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) show an increase in the number of patients recommending Harrington Hospital and citing improvements on measures like communication with doctors, care transitions, and hospital environment.

The CAHPS® Hospital Survey is a core set of 21 questions that pertain to patient perspectives on care. The survey complements data hospitals currently collect to support improvements in internal customer services and quality-related activities.