Michigan Hospital Safety Grades 2020: The Best And Worst

Several hospitals in Michigan received top grades for safety while others didn’t quite measure up, 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 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 Michigan:

• 31 hospitals received an A grade.
• 26 hospitals received a B grade.
• 16 hospitals received a C grade.
• 5 hospitals received a D grade.
• 0 hospitals received an F 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 Michigan:

Hospitals That Received A's

• Beaumont Hospital - Grosse Pointe
• Beaumont Hospital - Troy
• Beaumont Hospital - Trenton
• Henry Ford Macomb Hospital
• Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital
• Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital
• St. Joseph Mercy Oakland

Hospitals That Received B's

• Ascension Providence Hospital, Novi Campus
• Ascension Providence Hospital, Southfield Campus
• Beaumont Hospital Dearborn
• Beaumont Hospital, Farmington Hills
• Beaumont Hospital, Taylor
• Harper-Hutzel Hospital
• Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital
• ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital
• St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia

Hospitals That Received C's

• Ascension St. John Hospital
• Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak
• Detroit Receiving Hospital and University Health Center
• Henry Ford Hospital
• McLaren - Oakland
• Sinai-Grace Hospital

Hospitals That Received D's

• Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital, Warren Campus
• Ascension Providence Rochester Hospital

Patch reached out to both hospitals that received D's and will update this story when we get a reply.

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.