41 Virginia Hospitals Get 'A' Rating On New Safety Grades: See Full List

VIRGINIA — Forty-one hospitals in Virginia were given top marks in The Leapfrog Group’s fall 2024 hospital safety grades released Friday.

The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit health care watchdog group that grades hospitals twice a year, assigns letter grades ranging from “A” to “F,” for 3,000 general hospitals on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections.

Overall, hospitals have made great strides since the pandemic years, when the risk of contracting deadly infections was elevated nationwide, but more work needs to be done, the Leapfrog Group said in a news release.

Virginia ranked second among states for the number of hospitals earning the top letter grade. They are:

• Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Alexandria, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Centra Bedford Memorial Hospital, Bedford, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• LewisGale Hospital Montgomery, Blacksburg, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Carilion New River Valley Medical Center, Christiansburg, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• UVA Health Culpeper Medical Center, Culpeper, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Danville Regional Medical Center, Danville, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, Fairfax, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Centra Southside Community Hospital, Farmville, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Augusta Health, Fishersville, VA, up from B in spring 2024
• Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center (formerly Fort Belvoir Community Hospital), Fort Belvoir, VA, up from B in spring 2024
• Southampton Memorial Hospital, Franklin, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Warren Memorial Hospital, Front Royal, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Twin County Regional Healthcare, Galax, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Riverside Walter Reed Hospital, Gloucester, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Sentara CarePlex Hospital, Hampton, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• UVA Haymarket Medical Center, Haymarket, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Inova Loudoun Hospital, Leesburg, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• UVA Prince William Medical Center, Manassas, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, Mechanicsville, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Riverside Regional Medical Center, Newport News, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Sentara Leigh Hospital, Norfolk, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, VA, up from B in spring 2024
• LewisGale Hospital - Pulaski, Pulaski, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Reston Hospital Center, Reston, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Clinch Valley Medical Center, Richlands, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Parham Doctors' Hospital, Richmond, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• VCU Medical Center Main Hospital, Richmond, VA, up from C in spring 2024
• Retreat Doctors' Hospital, Richmond, VA, up from B in spring 2024
• Henrico Doctors' Hospital, Richmond, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital, Rocky Mount, VA, up from B in spring 2024
• Stafford Hospital, Stafford, VA, up from B in spring 2024
• VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital, Tappahannock, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, Virginia Beach, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, Virginia Beach, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Fauquier Hospital, Warrenton, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, Williamsburg, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Riverside Doctors' Hospital Williamsburg, Williamsburg, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Winchester Medical Center, Winchester, VA, same grade as spring 2024
• Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, Woodbridge, VA, up from B in spring 2024
• Wythe County Community Hospital, Wytheville, VA, up from B in spring 2024

By comparison, Virginia had 40 hospitals with A grades in Leapfrog Group's last ratings in the spring.

Overall, Virginia had:

• 15 hospitals that earned “B” grades;
• 15 hospitals that earned “C” grades;
• 0 hospitals that earned “D” grades; and
• 0 hospitals that earned “F” grades.

Some hospitals did not receive a grade.

For the third grading cycle, Utah tops the list with the highest percentage of “A” hospitals, followed, respectively, by Virginia, Connecticut, North Carolina, New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Colorado and South Carolina. California ranked in the top 10 for the first time since the fall of 2014.

The fall 2024 ratings show improvement in patient safety across several performance measures, including notable improvements on health care-associated infections, hand hygiene and medication safety. Preventable deaths and harm in hospitals has long been a major policy focus for The Leapfrog Group.

While noting the gains hospitals have made in patient safety have saved “countless lives,” Leapfrog Group president and CEO Leah Binder said in a news release that medical centers nationwide need to accelerate their progress “because no one should have to die from a preventable error in a hospital.”

Binder said significant variation in performance continues across U.S. hospitals. For example, four states — Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont — had no “A” hospitals.

“That’s why it’s so important for people to consult grades when making decisions about seeking care,” Binder said. “All hospitals are not the same.”

Nationally, health care-acquired infections reached their highest peak since 2016 in the fall 2022 safety grades, but they have since declined dramatically, according to the report.

Also, central line-associated bloodstream infections were down 38 percent, catheter-associated urinary tract infections were down 36 and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections decreased by 34 percent.

For more information on the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org.