MA Hospital Safety Grades 2020: The Best And Worst

BOSTON —Several hospitals in MA received top grades for safety while others were only satisfactory, according to new spring 2020 ratings released by the Leapfrog Group this week.

Safety grades are released by the nonprofit organization twice per year, in the spring and the fall. The ratings of more than 2,600 hospitals, 59 of which were in Massachusetts, focus on accidents, injuries and infections, and help to assess how well a facility prevents medical errors and other harm to patients.

It’s worth noting the metrics used to determine this spring’s hospital grades originated from safety data reported for periods ending in 2018 and 2019. The report does not take into account the strain the new coronavirus outbreak is placing on some hospitals where staff are experiencing shortages of drugs and protection equipment.

In MA out of 59 hospitals listed:

• 24 hospitals received an A grade.
• 20 hospitals received a B grade.
• 15 hospitals received a C grade.

(See detailed list below)

The latest grades show 33 percent of hospitals nationwide earned an “A” grade while 25 percent earned a “B.” Some 35 percent earned a “C” grade, 7 percent a “D” and less than 1 percent received an “F” grade.

Here are the Leapfrog Group's spring 2020 grades for hospitals in MA:

Hospitals that received an A grade:

• Baystate Franklin Medical Center
• Baystate Noble Hospital
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth
• Beverly Hospital
• Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital
• Brigham And Women's Hospital
• Cape Cod Hospital
• Carney Hospital
• Cooley Dickinson Hospital
• Falmouth Hospital
• Harrington Memorial Hospital
• Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley
• Holyoke Medical Center
• Lahey Hospital and Medical Center
• Lowell General Hospital - Saints Campus
• Marlborough Hospital
• Massachusetts General
• Milford Regional Medical Center
• Mount Auburn Hospital
• Newton-Wellesley Hospital
• Saint Anne's Hospital
• Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital
• South Shore Hospital
• Winchester Hospital

Hospitals that received a B grade:

• Addison Gilbert Hospital
• Baystate Medical Center
• Berkshire Medical Center
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• CHA Cambridge Hospital
• CHA Everett Hospital
• Charlton Memorial Hospital
• HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital
• HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital (Leominster)
• Heywood Hospital
• Holy Family Hospital
• Lawrence General Hospital
• Lowell General Hospital - Main Campus
• Morton Hospital
• Norwood Hospital
• St. Vincent Hospital
• St. Luke's Hospital
• Steward Good Samaritan Medical Center, Inc.
• Sturdy Memorial Hospital
• Tufts Medical Center

Hospitals that received a C grade:

• Anna Jaques Hospital
• Baystate Wing Hospital
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital - Needham
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital - Milton
• Boston Medical Center
• Emerson Hospital
• Leonard Morse Hospital
• MelroseWakefield Hospital
• Mercy Medical Center of Springfield
• Metrowest Medical Center
• North Shore Medical Center
• St. Elizabeth's Medical Center
• Tobey Hospital
• UMass Memorial Medical Center - Memorial Campus
• UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus

To determine each state’s grade, Leapfrog used up to 28 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources. When averaged, performance measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.

The goal of the Hospital Safety Grade is to reduce deaths caused by hospital errors and injuries.

Leapfrog estimates that if the risk at all hospitals was equivalent to what it is at "A" hospitals, 50,000 lives at other facilities would have been saved. Overall, the researchers estimate that 160,000 lives are lost every year due to avoidable medical errors. That figure is down from 2016, when the Leapfrog Group estimated there were 205,000 avoidable deaths.

For a full description of the methodology, go here.