Illinois Hospital Safety Grades 2022: The Best And Worst

ILLINOIS — Nearly three dozen Illinois hospitals received top marks in a report that indicated that other medical facilities across the state didn’t quite measure up, including one that received an "F" grade in the Spring 2022 Hospital Safety Grades report released Tuesday by The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog group.

The latest ratings released in Tuesday’s report are reflective of hospital care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Leapfrog Group said its and other groups’ research showed the pandemic reversed years of progress in patient safety.

Experts found that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative effect on “health care delivery at every level and setting, from staffing shortages to increased infections to the very care patients receive,” according to the Adult Patient Experience at Acute Care Hospitals survey, also released Tuesday by The Leapfrog Group.

“The health care workforce has faced unprecedented levels of pressure during the pandemic, and as a result, patients' experience with their care appears to have suffered,” Leapfrog Group President and CEO Leah Binder said in a news release. “We commend the workforce for their heroic efforts these past few years and now strongly urge hospital leadership to recommit to improved care — from communication to responsiveness — and get back on track with patient safety outcomes.”

In Illinois, 34 hospitals received an "A" grade, 25 hospitals received a "B" grade, 46 hospitals received a "C" grade and 8 hospitals received a "D" grade. One hospital received an "F" grade.

Here are the rankings, according to Leapfrog:

A

AMITA Health, Glendale Heights

AMITH Health, Hinsdale

AMITA Health, La Grange

AMITA Health Resurrection, Chicago

AMITA Health St, Joseph, Chicago

Blessing Hospital, Chicago

Carle Richland Memorial, Urbana

Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, Elmhurst

Graham Hospital, Canton

HSHS St. Elizabeth’s, O’Fallon

Insight Hospital, Chicago

Loyola Gottlieb Memorial, Melrose Park

MacNeal Hospital, Berwyn

McDonough District Hospital, Macomb

Morris Hospital, Morris

Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights

Northwestern Medical, Winfield

Northwestern Medical, Geneva

Northwestern Medical, Huntley

Northwestern Medical, DeKalb

Northwestern Medical, McHenry

Northwestern Medical, Palos Heights

OSF Health, Peoria

OSF St. James, Pontiac

Ottawa Regional Hospital

Riverside Medical Center, Kankakee

Rush Copley Hospital, Aurora

Rush Oak Park Hospital

Rush University Medical Center, Chicago

SIH Memorial, Carbondale

Silver Cross Hospital, New Lenox

SSM St. Mary’s, Centralia

Unity Point Health, Peoria

University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago

B

AMITA Health, Bolingbrook

AMITA Health Elk Grove Village

AMITA Health Mercy, Aurora

AMITA Health, Evanston

AMITA Health, Elgin

AMITA Health, Joliet

AMITA Health, Chicago

AMITA Health, Hoffman Estates

AMITA Health St. Mary’s, Kankakee

Edward Hospital, Naperville

Genesis Medical Center, Silvis

HSHS St. Anthony’s, Effingham

HSHS St. Joseph’s, Breese

Humboldt Park Health, Chicago

Ingalls Memorial Hospital, Harvey

Loretto Hospital, Chicago

NorthShore University, Evanston

NorthShore University, Glenview

NorthShore University, Highland Park

OSF Sacred Heart, Danville

OSF Saint Anthony’s, Rockford

OSF Saint Anthony’s, Alton

OSF St. Mary’s, Galesburg

Swedish Covenant Hospital, Chicago

Unity Point Health, Peoria

C

Advocate Condell Medical Center, Libertyville

Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove

Advocate Good Shepherd, Barrington

Advocate Illinois Masonic, Chicago

Advocate Lutheran, Park Ridge

Advocate Sherman, Elgin

Alton Memorial Hospital, Alton

Anderson Hospital, Maryville

Carle BroMenn Medical, Normal

Carle Richland Medical Center, Olney

CGH Medical Center, Sterling

Decatur Memorial Hospital, Decatur

FHN Memorial, Freeport

Franciscan St. James, Olympia Fields

Galesburg Cottage Hospital, Galesburg

Heartland Regional Medical Center, Marion

Holy Cross Medical Center, Chicago

HSHS St. John’s, Springfield

HSHS St. Mary’s, Decatur

Jackson Park Hospital, Chicago

John H. Stroger Hospital, Chicago

Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital, Dixon

Loyola University Memorial, Maywood

Memorial Hospital, Belleville

Memorial Medical, Springfield

Mt. Sinai, Chicago

Northwestern Medical, Lake Forest

Northwestern Medical, Chicago

OSF Heart of Mary, Evergreen Park

OSF Heart of Mary, Urbana

OSF St. Joseph’s, Bloomington

Passavant Area Hospital, Jacksonville

Saint Anthony’s Hospital, Chicago

SIH Herrin Hospital, Herrin

SSM Health Good Samaritan, Mt. Vernon

St. Bernard, Hospital, Chicago

St. Margaret’s Health, Peru

St. Margaret’s Health, Spring Valley

Thorek Memorial, Chicago

Trinity Moline Hospital, Moline

Trinity Rock Island Hospital, Rock Island

Unity Point Health, Pekin

University of Illinois-Chicago Hospital, Chicago

UW Health Swedish, Rockford

Weiss Memorial Hospital, Chicago

Weiss Memorial Hospital, Oak Park

D

Advocate Christ Medical Hospital, Oak Lawn

Advocate South Suburban, Hazel Crest

Advocate Trinity, Chicago

Community First Medical, Chicago

Gateway Regional Medical Center, Granite City

Javon Bee Hospital, Rockford

Roseland Community Hospital, Chicago

Sarah Bush Lincoln Hospital, Mattoon

F

Vista Medical Center, Waukegan

The letter grades assigned to nearly 3,000 U.S general hospitals were based on more than 30 measures of patient safety. Leapfrog says its hospital rating system is the only one in the country focusing solely on a hospital’s ability to protect patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries, and infections.

Included in the 30 are five that research has shown to directly affect patient outcomes, but can be improved with greater communication between caregivers and patients — the number of central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, infections from colon surgery, MRSA (Staphylococcus) blood laboratory-identified events, and facility-wide inpatient diarrhea events.

When there’s communication about medications, for example, that can lead to fewer hospitalizations for conditions such as sepsis and blood clots, fewer complications, and decreases in the incidence of respiratory failure, Leapfrog said.

Among the findings:

• Thirty-three percent of hospitals received an “A,” 24 percent received a “B,” 36 percent received a “C,” 7 percent received a “D.” and fewer than 1 percent received an “F”.
• The states with the highest percentages of “A” hospitals are North Carolina, Virginia, Utah, Colorado, and Michigan.
• There were no “A” hospitals in Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota, or the District of Columbia.

To determine each hospital’s grade, a panel of medical experts selected 30 evidence-based measures of patient safety such as postoperative sepsis, blood leakage, and kidney injury. They then determined the weight of each measure based on evidence, the opportunity for improvement, and patient impact.

Data on each measure was collected through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Information from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, available to all hospitals to complete, also affects grades.

Currently, Leapfrog does not assign grades to military or Veterans Administration hospitals, critical access hospitals, specialty hospitals, children’s hospitals, or outpatient surgery centers.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade methodology has been peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Patient Safety.

The full methodology for the 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is available online.