West Suburban Medical Center Rakes in Straight-A Grades for Safety

OAK PARK, IL – West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park distinguished itself Monday as one of the safest hospitals in the Chicago area.

According to national non-profit the Leapfrog Group, which has been grading hospitals based on how well they prevent errors, accidents, injuries and infections since 2012, West Suburban in Oak Park is one of only eight in the Chicago area that received straight A’s.

The Leapfrog Group, along with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, evaluates more than 2,500 hospitals across the country in the fall and the spring and consolidates their findings into a single letter grade.

The Leapfrog Group’s Hospital Safety Grades site states that choosing the right hospital can reduce your risk of avoidable death by 50 percent.

“The analysis finds that despite considerable improvement in the safety of hospital care since the Score’s launch in 2012, avoidable deaths remain high,” the site said. “Findings point to a 9 percent higher risk of avoidable death in B hospitals, 35 percent higher in C hospitals, and 50 percent higher in D and F hospitals, than in A hospitals.”

The other seven hospitals in the area that received straight A’s this fall are Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, University of Chicago Medical Center in Chicago, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, Elmhurst Memorial Hospital in Elmhurst, Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

For more information about Chicago-area safety grades and to learn more about the grading process, check out our city-wide article here.

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