Most Maine hospitals get an 'A' for safety — outscoring the country
Maine’s hospitals rank as the country’s safest, according to one of the preeminent groups that evaluates the quality of health care.
The state received the highest percentage of “A” grades in a study by the Leapfrog Group of over 2,600 general acute-care facilities across the U.S., according to a news release Thursday.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is a bi-annual assessment that assigns "A," "B," "C," "D" and "F" grades on the basis of patient safety, measured by the incidence of preventable errors, accidents, injuries and infections. In Maine, the best grade, A, went to 59% of hospitals — 10 of the state’s 17 facilities.
Six hospitals received a B in the evaluation. One hospital, Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, got a C.
Nationally, 33% of all hospitals scored an A, while the B grade went to 25%. Maine was one of only three states where more than half of the hospitals were graded A. Utah and Virginia were the others.
The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization, was established in 2000 by a group of large employers and other health care purchasers, after a groundbreaking report found that 100,000 U.S. patients died annually as a result of preventable medical errors.
"In stark contrast to 20 years ago, we're now able to pinpoint where the problems are, and that allows us to grade hospitals," said Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder in the release. "It also allows us to better track progress. Encouragingly, we are seeing fewer deaths from the preventable errors we monitor in our grading process."
For a list of the evaluated Maine hospitals and their grades, click here.
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