Penn State Health hospitals achieve A grades on latest Leapfrog safety report card

Grades recognize hospital performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms

Both Penn State Health adult hospitals have earned top marks on The Leapfrog Group’s latest safety ranking report card. Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center both achieved As in Leapfrog’s Fall 2018 Hospital Safety Grade.

Leapfrog assigns grades of A, B, C, D or F to hospitals across the nation based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms among patients in their care.

Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grade, which was developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals. The methodology is peer-reviewed.

Hershey Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center were among 855 across the United States awarded an A in the Fall 2018 update of grades. It represents the sixth consecutive A grade for Hershey Medical Center, and a significant improvement for St. Joseph as compared to previous Leapfrog reports.

“When we partnered with Highmark, we pledged to work together to improve access, quality and affordability of health care close to home for people across central Pennsylvania,” said Alan Brechbill, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Penn State Health. “The latest grades from Leapfrog reflect the safe, high-quality care people of our communities can expect to receive at Penn State Health hospitals.”

More information is available at www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.

“Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grades recognize hospitals like Hershey Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center that focus on advancing patient safety. This ranking provides an important resource for patients, and a benchmark for hospitals, to determine how care at one hospital compares to others in a region,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group.

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