The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit driving a movement for patient safety founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, just released its fall 2023 Hospital Safety Grades, assigning a letter grade to nearly 3,000 general hospitals on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harms to patients. It is fully transparent and free to the public, and grades are updated biannually in the fall and in the spring.

The latest grades show hospitals reducing health care-acquired infections (HAIs) post-pandemic, after significant increases in infection rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cycle, nearly 30% of hospitals earned an “A,” 24% earned a “B,” 39% earned a “C,” 7% earned a “D,” and less than 1% earned an “F.”

Out of 3000 hospitals surveyed, 11 of them were given a score of “F.” Four of those 11 are in California.

– – Memorial Hospital of Gardena
– – Mission Community Hospital (Panorama City)
– – Pacifica Hospital of the Valley (Sun Valley)
– – Providence St. Mary Medical Center (Apple Valley)

New York is the state with the second most on the “F” list with two hospitals receiving an “F” grade.

Utah is the state with the highest percentage of “A” hospitals in the country this fall. After Utah, the top ten states for “A” hospitals are: Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Connecticut, Montana, Tennessee, Florida and Texas.

“Now that we have pre- and post-pandemic data for patient safety measures, we are encouraged by the improvement in infections and applaud hospitals for reversing the disturbing infection spike we saw during the pandemic,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “However, there’s still more work to be done. It’s deeply concerning that patient reports about their health care experience continues to decline.”