Southbridge, MA, November 7, 2019 – In a report just released by The Leapfrog Group, Harrington Hospital has earned an “A” in the Fall 2019 Hospital Safety Grade report.
The report offers transparency on how well hospitals nationwide protect patients from errors, accidents, injuries and infections by offering public letter grades. The score represents how hospitals address common quality concerns, including handwashing and surgical outcomes.
This is the 13th “A” grade awarded to Harrington since the program’s inception in 2012.
“We are extremely proud to remain one of the safest hospitals in central Massachusetts,” said President and CEO Ed Moore. “Patient safety is everyone’s top priority at Harrington. Our departments work seamlessly to ensure our quality measures are being constantly reviewed. To earn 13 “A” grades in seven years is an incredible accomplishment, but not one that takes me by surprise, given the extraordinary effort and dedication demonstrated by our staff.”
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), to assign A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals twice per year.
Leapfrog works under the guidance of an Expert Panel to select appropriate measures and develop a scoring methodology. The Expert Panel is made up of patient safety experts from across the country. The methodology is peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Patient Safety.
“‘A’ hospitals show us their leadership is protecting patients from preventable medical harm and error,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “It takes genuine commitment at every level – from clinicians to administrators to the board of directors – and we congratulate the teams who have worked so hard to earn this A.”
In October 2017, Harrington was one of only 59 hospitals in the United States and the only hospital in central Massachusetts to be awarded twelve straight “A” grades since 2012. Since then, Harrington has also earned two “B” grades, in the fall of 2018 and the spring of 2019. Due to a change in methodology which impacted many smaller community hospitals, Harrington was not graded in the spring of 2018.
Hospital grades are free to the public by visiting hospitalsafetygrade.org
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