Beverly Hospital Extends 'A' Safety Grade Run Amid COVID-19 Crisis

BEVERLY, MA — Beverly Hospital maintained its "A" hospital safety grade, according to the healthcare nonprofit The Leapfrog Group, for the 23rd year in a row in ratings released on Tuesday.

Beverly Hospital was one of 20 hospitals nationwide to earn an "A" grade every year since 2012 with this year's grades measuring how hospitals performed in key areas through the COVID-19 health crisis.

"We proudly accept this recognition which speaks to our commitment to create the safest possible care environment," Beverly Hospital President Tom Sands said. "Ensuring the safety of patients is a top priority for all our nurses, clinicians and colleagues, and we are grateful for the collective efforts of this community in achieving this award."

The Leapfrog Group uses an academic grading scale with five letter grades to score nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide 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.

In Massachusetts, 21 hospitals received an A, 18 received a B, 17 received a C and one received a D grade. No hospitals in the state received an F.

(Also on Patch: Massachusetts Hospital Safety Grades Rate Patient Safety: LeapFrog)

"This new update of Hospital Safety Grades shows that, at the national level, we saw deterioration in patient safety with the pandemic," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. "But this hospital received an 'A' despite those challenges.

"I congratulate all the leaders, staff, volunteers and clinicians who together made that possible."

To see Beverly Hospital's full grade details, visit here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)