Maine hospitals best in nation for safety

A national hospital watchdog group has ranked Maine first in the nation for hospital safety, giving an 'A' safety score to 16 of the 20 Maine hospitals surveyed.

The Morning Sentinel reported that the Leapfrog Group, a Maryland-based coalition of public and private purchasers of health coverage, gave the following hospitals an 'A' ranking: Cary Medical Center in Caribou; Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston; Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor; Henrietta D. Goodall Hospital in Sanford; Inland Hospital and MaineGeneral Medical Center's Thayer campus, both in Waterville; Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth; Mercy Hospital of Portland in Portland; Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick; Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta; Parkview Adventist Medical Center in Brunswick; Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport; Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford; St. Joseph Hospital of Bangor in Bangor; St. Mary's Regional Medical Center of Maine in Lewiston; and The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle.

Maine Medical Center in Portland, Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and MaineGeneral Medical Center's Augusta campus each received a 'B' ranking. York Hospital of Maine received a 'C.'

Leapfrog's report, which was released on Wednesday, noted that of the 2,500 hospitals nationwide that received safety grades, only 31% got A's. The nonprofit group is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is working to drive down health care costs by identifying avoidable mistakes. Twice a year it grades hospitals based on 26 measures of safety.

The Waterville newspaper reported that Massachusetts placed second in the safety ranking, with 70% of hospitals receiving A's, and Minnesota third, with 46% receiving the top grade. At the bottom of the rankings are Idaho, Nevada, Kansas and Oregon, with 10% each, just ahead of West Virginia, which had 8%, and New Mexico, which ranked last with 7%.