The Leapfrog Group is a non-profit organization in the United States that focuses on patient safety, quality, and transparency in healthcare. It was founded in 2000 by large employers and healthcare experts to work to improve the healthcare system through public reporting initiatives.
For more than 20 years, The Leapfrog Group has collected, analyzed, and published hospital data on safety and quality in order to push the health care industry forward. Leapfrog’s bold transparency has promoted high-value care and informed health care decisions – and helped trigger giant leaps forward in the safety, quality, and affordability of U.S. health care.
Leapfrog just released its spring 2024 Hospital Safety Grades, assigning an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” to nearly 3,000 general hospitals on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections. Nationally, patient experience – a set of measures using patient-reported perspectives on hospital care – indicates significant signs of improvement since the fall 2023 Safety Grades, and preventable health care-associated infections show a sustained drop after unprecedented rates during the height of the pandemic.
In addition to assigning letter grades to individual hospitals, The Leapfrog Group also reports best patient safety performance by state and, for the first time, by metro area based on highest percentage of “A” hospitals. In spring 2024, Utah ranks number one among states for the second cycle in a row. The top three metro areas are Allentown (Pennsylvania), Winston-Salem (North Carolina), and New Orleans (Louisiana).
Three California hospitals made the Leapfrog list of the 10 nationwide to receive an “F” grade in The Leapfrog Group’s spring safety rankings, released May 1.
– – Mission Community Hospital (Panorama City)
– – Pacifica Hospital of the Valley (Sun Valley)
– – Providence St. Mary Medical Center (Apple Valley)
There are 15 hospitals Leapfrog has rated with 25 consecutive “A” grades. Two of them are in California.
– – French Hospital Medical Center (San Luis Obispo)
– – Kaiser Permanente Orange County-Anaheim Medical Center
Twice a year, the nonprofit healthcare watchdog organization publishes a letter grade for 3,000 hospitals on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections. Among the 3,000 hospitals evaluated nationwide, fewer than 1 percent received an “F.”