Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital Gets 'A' Grade For Safety

CHERRY HILL, NJ — Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital earned high marks for patient safety, according to the spring 2024 Hospital Safety Grades released Wednesday by The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog.

The Cherry Hill hospital was one of several in South Jersey that received an "A" grade from Leapfrog, while other institutions got B's and C's. (See their grades below.)

Twice a year, Leapfrog assigns letter grades to hospitals around the nation based on patient safety — the only hospital-ratings program exclusively based on prevention of medical errors and harm to patients, the organization says. The grades are peer-reviewed and free to the public.

Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital performed "better than average" when it came to preventing:

• dangerous objects left in a patient's body
• surgical wounds slipping open
• blood leakage
• kidney injuries after surgery
• serious breathing problems after surgery
• harmful events
• dangerous blood clops
• air or gas bubbles in the blood

The hospital also exceeded the average when in the following practices to prevent errors:

• doctors ordering medications through a computer
• safe medication administration
• hand-washing
• staff collaboration to prevent errors

Jefferson Cherry Hill registered "below average" for preventing:

• clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection
• infection in the urinary tract
• sepsis infection after surgery
• death from serious treatable complications
• collapsed lungs

View the hospital's ratings here.

Jefferson Washington Township Hospital also received an A, while the Greater Philadelphia health care provider's Stratford hospital got a B grade from Leapfrog.

"The Leapfrog organization allows our South Jersey community members to compare," said Aaron Chang, president of Jefferson Health's East Region, "and it gives me great pride to know that we stand out with our top-tier grades — a true reflection of our commitment to innovation, care, and quality."

South Jersey hospitals received the following grades from Leapfrog:

• Virtua Willingboro Hospital: B
• Virtua Mount Holly Hospital: C
• Cooper University Hospital (Camden): C
• Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital (Camden): B
• Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital: A
• Virtua Marlton Hospital: A
• Virtua Voorhees Hospital: A
• Jefferson Stratford Hospital: B
• Jefferson Washington Township Hospital: A
• Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill: A

Visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org for the full report.