Newton Hospital Earns ‘A’ Grade In National Health Care Safety Rating

NEWTON, MA – Newton-Wellesley Hospital was one of 21 across Massachusetts to earn an “A” grade for patient safety, according to the healthcare nonprofit The Leapfrog Group in its national grading released this week.

The Leapfrog Group assigns letter grades, ranging from “A” to “F,” to general hospitals throughout the United States. The grades are based on over 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries, and infections, as well as systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent, and free to the public.

“At Newton-Wellesley Hospital, the safety of our patients is paramount,” Yvonne Cheung, Associate Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Quality and Safety at Newton-Wellesley said in a news release. “Our employees work incredibly hard every day to ensure we protect our patients’ health and improve their overall well-being. We are proud that our efforts can be clearly seen in our safety performance data and are being recognized by those outside our organization as well.”

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.

“This new update of Hospital Safety Grades shows that, at the national level, we saw deterioration in patient safety with the pandemic,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a news release. “But this hospital received an ‘A’ despite those challenges. I congratulate all the leaders, staff, volunteers and clinicians who together made that possible.”

The full Leapfrog grade details for hospitals are available here.