NYC Hospitals Score Poorly on New Nationwide Safety Grades

NEW YORK, NY — New York City hospitals did not score well in a new list of safety grades released on Monday. The grades were done for hospitals nationwide by nonprofit The Leapfrog Group using facility surveys and federal data.

There were 38 city hospitals on the list, and while the majority did receive passing grades, it was only barely. Also, New York state as a whole finished way at the bottom for overall state rankings (46th). You can check out the state rankings here.

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You can read all the city rankings below, but only two hospitals scored an A in the rankings: Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica and Woodhull Medical Center in Bed-Stuy. Three hospitals scored B rankings: Metropolitan Hospital Center in East Harlem, Harlem Hospital in Harlem and North Central Bronx Hospital in Norwood. The rest of the hospitals on the list got Cs, Ds and even a couple Fs.

There were 20 hospitals which scored C rankings, 11 hospitals which scored D rankings and two hospitals — SUNY Downstate and St. John's Episcopal — which were given Fs.

The NYC Hospital Grades:

• Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (Queens): D
• New York Community Hospital (Brooklyn): D
• Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan): C
• Richmond University Medical Center (Staten Island): D
• Mount Sinai–St. Luke's (Manhattan): C
• New York–Presbyterian (Queens): D
• The Brooklyn Hospital Center (Brooklyn): D
• Montefiore Moses Campus (Bronx): C
• Lincoln Medical Center (Bronx): C
• New York–Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center (Manhattan): C
• Lenox Hill Hospital (Manhattan): C
• Jacobi Medical Center (Bronx): C
• Elmhurst Hospital Center (Queens): C
• Staten Island University Hospital (Staten Island): C
• Mount Sinai–Beth Israel (Manhattan): C
• Flushing Hospital Medical Center (Queens): D
• Maimonides Medical Center (Brooklyn): D
• Coney Island Hospital (Brooklyn): C
• Metropolitan Hospital Center (Manhattan): B
• Bellevue Hospital Center (Manhattan): C
• NYU Langone Medical Center (Manhattan): C
• Wyckoff Heights Medical Center (Brooklyn): D
• Queens Hospital Center (Queens): A
• New York Methodist Hospital (Brooklyn): D
• Harlem Hospital (Manhattan): B
• Lutheran Medical Center (Brooklyn): D
• SUNY Downstate Medical Center (Brooklyn): F
• North Central Bronx Hospital (Bronx): B
• St. John's Episcopal Hospital (Queens): F
• Woodhull Medical Center (Brooklyn): A
• St. Banabas Hospital (Bronx): D
• Mount Sinai–Brooklyn (Brooklyn): C
• Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center (Bronx): C
• Montefiore Einstein Campus (Bronx): C
• New York–Presbyterian Columbia University (Manhattan): C
• Mount Sinai–West (Manhattan): C
• Mount Sinai–Queens (Queens): C
• Montefiore Wakefield Campus (Bronx): C

The site says choosing the right hospital can reduce your risk of avoidable death by 50 percent.

“The analysis finds that despite considerable improvement in the safety of hospital care since the Score’s launch in 2012, avoidable deaths remain high,” the site said. “Findings point to a 9 percent higher risk of avoidable death in B hospitals, 35 percent higher in C hospitals, and 50 percent higher in D and F hospitals, than in A hospitals.”

The Leapfrog Group uses "30 evidence-based measures of patient safety," including patient injuries, accidents and infections. Numerical scores are converted into letter grades. Of more than 2,600 hospitals graded nationwide, there were 844 "A"-grade hospitals and only 20 "F"-grade hospitals. Leapfrog is a nonprofit founded by large employers in 2000 to improve health care quality and safety.

Photo Credit: Woodhull Medical Center by Jim Henderson via Wikimedia Commons