New MA Hospital Safety Ratings: 30 Get 'A' Grade, 1 Gets 'D'

MASSACHUSETTS — Numerous of Massachusetts hospitals received top safety marks while others didn't quite measure up in The Leapfrog Group's annual fall safety grades.

The nonprofit health care watchdog group grades hospitals twice a year, assigning letter grades from "A" to "F" based on each hospital's ability to protect patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries and infections.

The fall 2021 Hospital Safety Grade represents the largest set of hospitals ever graded with grades assigned to 2,901 facilities.

In Massachusetts, 30 hospitals received an "A" grade, 12 hospitals received a "B" grade, 15 hospitals received a "C" grade and one hospital received a "D" grade. No Massachusetts hospitals received an "F" grade.

Here are the rankings, according to Leapfrog:

Hospitals receiving a 'A' grade

• Addison Gilbert Hospital
• Baystate Noble Hospital
• Baystate Wing Hospital
• Berkshire Medical Center
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital - Needham
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital - Plymouth
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital - Milton
• Beverly Hospital
• Brigham and Women's Hospital
• Cooley Dickinson Hospital
• Emerson Hospital
• Heywood Hospital
• Holy Family Hospital - Haverhill
• Holy Family Hospital - Methuen
• Holyoke Medical Center
• Lahey Hospital and Medical Center
• Marlborough Hospital
• Massachusetts General Hospital
• Mercy Medical Center of Springfield
• Milford Regional Medical Center
• Morton Hospital
• Nashoba Valley Medical Center
• Newton-Wellesley Hospital
• North Shore Medical Center Salem Hospital
• Saint Anne's Hospital
• South Shore Hospital
• Steward Good Samaritan Medical Center, Inc.
• Sturdy Memorial Hospital
• Tufts Medical Center
• Winchester Hospital

Hospitals receiving a 'B' grade

• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital
• Carney Hospital
• CHA Cambridge Hospital
• CHA Everett Hospital
• Falmouth Hospital
• Harrington Memorial Hospital
• Lawrence General Hospital
• Melrose-Wakefield Hospital
• Mount Auburn Hospital
• Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital
• St. Vincent Hospital

Hospitals receiving a 'C' grade

• Anna Jaques Hospital
• Baystate Franklin Medical Center
• Baystate Medical Center
• Boston Medical Center
• Cape Cod Hospital
• Charlton Memorial Hospital
• HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital
• HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital
• Lowell General Hospital
• Lowell General Hospital - Saint Campus
• MetroWest Medical Center
• St. Elizabeth's Medical Center
• St. Luke's Hospital
• Tobey Hospital
• UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus

Hospitals receiving a 'D' grade

• UMass Memorial Medical Center - Memorial Campus

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, 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 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is available online.

Findings from the fall 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade include:

• Thirty-two percent of hospitals received an "A” grade; 26 percent received a "B," 35 percent received a "C," 7 percent received a "D," and less than 1 percent received an "F.”

• The five states with the highest percentages of "A" hospitals are Virginia, North Carolina, Idaho, Massachusetts and Colorado.

• There were no "A" hospitals in Delaware, Washington, D.C. and North Dakota.