These Are New Hampshire's Safest Hospitals, New Ranking Says

NEW HAMPSHIRE — A new hospital safety report released Thursday shows four hospitals in the Granite State earned “A” grades based on their ability to protect their patients from often preventable harm.

The Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2025 Hospital Safety Grades are a biannual ranking that assigns a “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” to all general hospitals in the United States based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections.

According to the safety grades, of the 13 ranked, no hospitals received an “F” grade. Additionally, two hospitals received a “D” and six got a “C.”

New Hampshire ranks 23rd among all states for the percentage of hospitals receiving “A” grades in the spring 2025 report card.

“A” hospitals in New Hampshire are Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, Exeter Hospital, Portsmouth Regional Hospital, and St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua.

You can see the full rankings here.

Debra Cresta, the president of Exeter Hospital, said officials were pleased of its ranking with the independent national nonprofit watchdog.

“We are proud to receive an ‘A’ grade, reflecting Exeter’s deep commitment to high-quality care,” she said. “This recognition would not be possible without the focus our team has each and every day on ensuring the safety of our patients.”

Sean Patterson, the chief executive officer of Portsmouth Regional Hospital, was also happy with the new ranking.

“Each day our teams come to work focused on two things: providing safe, high-quality care to our patients and ensuring they have a positive care experience,” he said. “Earning an ‘A’ grade from The Leapfrog Group demonstrates to current and future patients that we are putting their safety first and validates to our colleagues that we are on the right path.”

John A. Jurczyk, the president of St. Joseph Hospital, said they were “very grateful” for the recognition.

“It truly represents the tireless efforts and dedication of our employees who make St. Joseph Hospital a safe environment for our patients,” he said.

Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, congratulated the hospitals, saying, “Achieving an ‘A’ Hospital Safety Grade reflects enormous dedication to patient safety.”

Across the nation, 11 hospitals have earned “A” grades on all 27 evaluation rounds over the 13 years of the report card.

They include: Mayo Clinic-Phoenix in Arizona; French Hospital Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente Orange County-Anaheim Medical Center in California; Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital and University of Chicago Medical Center in Illinois; Saint Anne’s Hospital (Massachusetts); Inova Loudoun Hospital, Sentara CarePlex Hospital and Sentara Leigh Hospital in Virginia; and Virginia Mason Medical Center in Washington.

Leah Binder, the president and chief executive of The Leapfrog Group, said “A” grades should be a source of pride for hospitals, but she warned them not to “rest on that laurel.”

“Patient safety is a relentless, never-ending quest to put patients first,” she said in a news release. “That’s why Leapfrog is highlighting the hospitals across the U.S. that have earned Straight A’s for over two years. Sustaining an A over multiple years reflects a deep-rooted commitment to patient safety.”

The top five states with the highest share of Straight A hospitals since spring 2023 are Utah (29 percent), Connecticut (29 percent), New Jersey (27 percent), Rhode Island (22 percent), and Virginia (20 percent).

For consistent performance over the past five grading cycles, states with no Straight A hospitals are Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Washington, D.C.

The states with the highest percentage of A Grades for spring 2025 are Utah, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Virginia.