Illinois Hospital Safety Grades 2020: The Best And Worst

ILLINOIS — Several hospitals in Illinois received top grades for safety while others didn’t quite measure up, according to new spring 2020 ratings released by the Leapfrog Group this week.

Safety grades are released by the nonprofit organization twice per year, in the spring and the fall. The ratings of more than 2,600 hospitals focus on accidents, injuries and infections, and help to assess how well a facility prevents medical errors and other harm to patients.

It’s worth noting the metrics used to determine this spring’s hospital grades originated from safety data reported for periods ending in 2018 and 2019. The report does not take into account the strain the new coronavirus outbreak is placing on some hospitals where staff are experiencing shortages of drugs and protection equipment.

In Illinois:

• 46 hospitals received an A grade.
• 22 hospitals received a B grade.
• 31 hospitals received a C grade.
• 6 hospitals received a D grade.
• 1 hospital received an F grade.

The latest grades show 33 percent of hospitals nationwide earned an “A” grade while 25 percent earned a “B.” Some 35 percent earned a “C” grade, 7 percent a “D” and less than 1 percent received an “F” grade.

Here are the Leapfrog Group's spring 2020 grades for hospitals in Illinois:

A grade:

• AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook
• AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Glen Oaks
• AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Hinsdale
• AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center La Grange
• AMITA Health Mercy Medical Center Aurora
• AMITA Health Resurrection Medical Center Chicago
• AMITA Health Saint Joseph Hospital Chicago
• AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center Joliet
• AMITA Health Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center Chicago
• AMITA Health St. Alexius Medical Center Hoffman Estates
• CGH Medical Center
• Edward Hospital
• Elmhurst Memorial Hospital
• HSHS St. Elizabeth's Hospital
• HSHS St. John's Hospital
• HSHS St. Mary's Hospital
• Illinois Valley Community Hospital
• Loyola Gottlieb Memorial Hospital
• Loyola University Medical Center
• Morris Hospital
• NorthShore University HealthSystem - Evanston Hospital
• NorthShore University HealthSystem - Glenbrook Hospital
• NorthShore University HealthSystem - Highland Park Hospital
• Northwest Community Hospital
• Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
• Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital
• Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital
• Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital
• Northwestern Hospital McHenry Hospital
• Northwestern Medicine, Lake Forest
• OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center
• OSF HealthCare System d/b/an OSF Little Co of Mary Medical Center
• OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center
• OSF Saint Anthony's Health Center
• OSF St. Mary Medical Center
• Ottawa Regional Hospital and Healthcare Center dba OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center
• Riverside Medical Center
• Rush Copley Medical Center
• Rush Oak Park Hospital
• Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center
• Silver Cross Hospital
• SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital-Centralia
• Swedish Hospital
• UnityPoint Health - Methodist
• University of Chicago Medical Center
• West Suburban Medical Center

B grade:

• Advocate Sherman Hospital
• AMITA Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village
• AMITA Health Saint Joseph Hospital Elgin
• AMITA Health St. Mary's Hospital Kankakee
• Blessing Hospital
• Carle Foundation Hospital
• FHN Memorial Hospital
• HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital
• Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital
• MacNeal Hospital
• McDonough District Hospital
• Memorial Medical Center
• Mercy Hospital and Medical Center
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital
• OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center
• OSF Saint Joseph Medical Center
• Palos Community Hospital
• Passavant Area Hospital
• Rush University Medical Center
• SSM Health Good Samaritan Hospital - Mount Vernon
• St. Margaret's Hospital
• Weiss Memorial Hospital

C grade:

• Advocate BroMenn Medical Center
• Advocate Christ Medical Center
• Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital
• Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
• Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
• Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
• Advocate South Suburban Hospital
• Advocate Trinity Hospital
• Alton Memorial Hospital
• Amita Health Saint Francis Hospital Evanston
• Anderson Hospital
• Community First medical Center
• Crossroads Community Hospital
• Decatur Memorial Hospital
• Franciscan St. James Health - Olympia Fields
• Genesis Medical Center, Silvis
• Graham Hospital
• Herrin Hospital
• Holy Cross Hospital
• Ingalls Memorial Hospital
• Jackson Park Hospital
• Memorial Hospital Belleville
• Memorial Hospital of Carbondale
• Mercyhealth Hospital Rockton Avenue
• Norwegian American Hospital
• OSF Sacred Heart Medical Center
• Swedish American Hospital
• Trinity Moline
• Trinity Rock Island
• UnityPoint Health -Proctor
• UnityPoint Health - Pekin

D grade:

• Advocate Condell Medical Center
• Gateway Regional Medical Center
• Memorial Hospital East
• Mt. Sinai Hospital
• University of Illinois Hospital
• Vista Medical Center East

F grade:

• John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital

To determine each state’s grade, Leapfrog used up to 28 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources. When averaged, performance measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.

The goal of the Hospital Safety Grade is to reduce deaths caused by hospital errors and injuries.

Leapfrog estimates that if the risk at all hospitals was equivalent to what it is at "A" hospitals, 50,000 lives at other facilities would have been saved. Overall, the researchers estimate that 160,000 lives are lost every year due to avoidable medical errors. That figure is down from 2016, when the Leapfrog Group estimated there were 205,000 avoidable deaths.

For a full description of the methodology, go here.