128 CA Hospitals Get 'A' Rating On New Safety Grades: See Full List

CALIFORNIA — A total of 128 hospitals in California were given top marks in The Leapfrog Group’s fall 2024 hospital safety grades released Friday.

The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit health care watchdog group that grades hospitals twice a year, assigns letter grades ranging from “A” to “F,” for 3,000 general hospitals across the United States on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections.

Overall, hospitals have made great strides since the pandemic years, when the risk of contracting deadly infections was elevated nationwide, but more work needs to be done, the Leapfrog Group said in a news release.

California ranked 6th among states for the number of hospitals earning the top letter grade, the first time breaking into the study’s top 10 since 2014, according to the Leapfrog Group. California ranked in the top 10 for the first time since the fall of 2014.

The full list of "A" graded hospitals in California is alphabetically listed by city below.

Not all of the state's hospitals were graded, or were excluded due to hospital type - read below for the full information about the data study.

• Alameda Hospital, Alameda
• Kaiser Permanente Orange County-Anaheim Medical Center, Anaheim
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Antioch, Antioch
• Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital, Auburn
• Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Bakersfield
• Mercy Hospital - Southwest, Bakersfield
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Baldwin Park Medical Center, Baldwin Park
• San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital, Banning
• Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, Burlingame
• St. John’s Hospital Camarillo, Camarillo
• Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Carmichael
• Eden Medical Center, Castro Valley
• Enloe Health, Chico
• Chino Valley Medical Center, Chino
• Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, Chula Vista
• Corona Regional Medical Center, Corona
• Sharp Coronado Hospital and Healthcare Center, Coronado
• Sutter Davis Hospital, Davis
• Kaiser Permanente Foundation Hospital Downey, Downey
• Scripps Memorial Hospital of Encinitas, Encinitas
• Palomar Medical Center Escondido, Escondido
• North Bay Medical Center, Fairfield
• Mercy Hospital of Folsom, Folsom
• Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center, Fontana
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Fresno, Fresno
• St. Jude Medical Center, Fullerton
• Adventist Health Glendale, Glendale
• Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, Goleta
• Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Grass Valley
• Marin Health Medical Center, Greenbrae
• Adventist Health Hanford, Hanford
• Kaiser Permanente Orange County-Irvine Medical Center, Irvine
• Hoag Hospital Irvine, Irvine
• Sutter Amador Hospital, Jackson
• UC San Diego Health La Jolla - Jacobs Medical Center and Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, La Jolla
• Scripps Green Hospital, La Jolla
• Sharp Grossmont Hospital, La Mesa
• La Palma Intercommunity Hospital, La Palma
• Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda
• Loma Linda University Medical Center East Campus, Loma Linda
• St. Mary Medical Center of Long Beach, Long Beach
• Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, Los Angeles
• Adventist Health White Memorial, Los Angeles
• University of California Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
• Los Angeles General Medical Center, Los Angeles
• Keck Hospital of USC, Los Angeles
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, Los Angeles
• Memorial Hospital Los Baños, Los Baños
• El Camino Hospital Los Gatos, Los Gatos
• St. Francis Medical Center, Lynwood
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Manteca, Manteca
• Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, Martinez
• Mercy Medical Center, Merced
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Modesto, Modesto
• Montclair Hospital Medical Center, Montclair
• Kaiser Permanente Moreno Valley Medical Center, Moreno Valley
• El Camino Hospital, Mountain View
• Southwest Healthcare Rancho Springs Hospital, Murrieta
• Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta, Murrieta
• Paradise Valley Hospital, National City
• Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach
• Northridge Hospital Medical Center-Roscoe Boulevard Campus, Northridge
• Novato Community Hospital, Novato
• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Oakland
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Oakland, Oakland
• Kaiser Permanente Ontario Medical Center, Ontario
• Providence St. Joseph Hospital Orange, Orange
• St. John's Regional Medical Center of Oxnard, Oxnard
• Palmdale Regional Medical Center, Palmdale
• Marshall Medical Center, Placerville
• Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, Pomona
• Palomar Medical Center Poway, Poway
• Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage
• St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, Red Bluff
• Shasta Regional Medical Center, Redding
• Sequoia Hospital, Redwood City
• Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center, Riverside
• Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center, Riverside
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Roseville, Roseville
• Sutter Roseville Medical Center, Roseville
• Mercy General Hospital, Sacramento
• Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento
• Methodist Hospital of Sacramento, Sacramento
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - South Sacramento, Sacramento
• Natividad Medical Center, Salinas
• Salinas Valley Health Medical Center, Salinas
• St. Bernardine Medical Center, San Bernardino
• UC San Diego Health Hillcrest - Hillcrest Medical Center, San Diego
• Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego
• Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego
• Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center, San Diego
• California Pacific Medical Center - Davies Campus, San Francisco
• UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion, San Francisco
• California Pacific Medical Center - Mission Bernal Campus, San Francisco
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Francisco, San Francisco
• UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights, San Francisco
• St. Mary's Medical Center, San Francisco
• California Pacific Medical Center - Van Ness Campus, San Francisco
• UCSF Health - Mission Bay, San Francisco
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Jose, San Jose
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Leandro, San Leandro
• French Hospital Medical Center, San Luis Obispo
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Rafael, San Rafael
• Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Santa Clara, Santa Clara
• Dominican Hospital, Santa Cruz
• Marian Regional Medical Center, Santa Maria
• Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, Santa Rosa
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa
• Adventist Health Selma, Selma
• Sherman Oaks Hospital, Sherman Oaks
• Adventist Health Sonora, Sonora
• Greater El Monte Community Hospital, South El Monte
• Kaiser Foundation Hospital - South San Francisco, South San Francisco
• Stanford Health Care, Stanford
• St. Joseph's Medical Center of Stockton, Stockton
• Los Robles Health System - Los Robles Regional Medical Center, Thousand Oaks
• Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Torrance
• Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance, Torrance
• Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, Tracy
• Adventist Health Tulare, Tulare
• Adventist Health Ukiah Valley, Ukiah
• NorthBay VacaValley Hospital, Vacaville
• Sutter Solano Medical Center, Vallejo
• Desert Valley Hospital, Victorville
• Whittier Hospital Medical Center, Whittier
• Southwest Healthcare Inland Valley Hospital, Wildomar
• Woodland Memorial Hospital, Woodland

California hospitals rose in rank throughout the year by 12.3%, with 35 additional hospitals rising to an A grade, according to the Leapfrog Group.

Overall, California had:

• 66 hospitals that earned “B” grades;
• 73 hospitals that earned “C” grades;
• 17 hospitals that earned “D” grades; and
• 1 hospitals that earned “F” grades.
• The remainder of the state’s hospitals were ungraded in the study, or excluded due to hospital type.

For the third grading cycle, Utah tops the list with the highest percentage of “A” hospitals, followed, respectively, by Virginia, Connecticut, North Carolina, New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Colorado and South Carolina.

The fall 2024 ratings show improvement in patient safety across several performance measures, including notable improvements on health care-associated infections, hand hygiene and medication safety. Preventable deaths and harm in hospitals has long been a major policy focus for The Leapfrog Group.

While noting the gains hospitals have made in patient safety have saved “countless lives,” Leapfrog Group president and CEO Leah Binder said in a news release that medical centers nationwide need to accelerate their progress “because no one should have to die from a preventable error in a hospital.”

Binder said significant variation in performance continues across U.S. hospitals. For example, four states — Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont — had no “A” hospitals.

“That’s why it’s so important for people to consult grades when making decisions about seeking care,” Binder said. “All hospitals are not the same.”

Nationally, health care-acquired infections reached their highest peak since 2016 in the fall 2022 safety grades, but they have since declined dramatically, according to the report.
Also, central line-associated bloodstream infections were down 38 percent, catheter-associated urinary tract infections were down 36 and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections decreased by 34 percent.

For more information on the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org.