Geneva Hospital Earns 'A' Ranking On New Safety Grades

GENEVA, IL — A hospital in Geneva is one of 32 in Illinois that received 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 on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections.

Geneva's Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital came away with an "A" grade, one it has maintained since at least spring 2021, The Leapgroup Group data shows.

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.

Illinois ranked 23rd among states for the number of hospitals earning the top letter grade. Overall, the state had 18 hospitals that earned "B" grades, 48 with "C" grades, 13 with "D" and two with "F" grades.

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. California ranked in the top 10 for the first time since the fall of 2014.

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

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."