The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization driven by employers and other purchasers of health care, today announced the fall 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades and once again awarded OakBend Medical Center an ‘A’ for achieving the highest national standards in patient safety. OakBend Medical Center is one of only 29 hospitals in the United States to be awarded an ‘A’ every grading cycle since 2012.
“At OakBend we put the safety and health of our patients first. We have top notch safety and quality teams and use best practices and accredited sources to keep our processes safe and up to date, stated Marilyn Phillips, VP Administrator of OakBend Medical Center. “We pride ourselves on creating a safe environment for patients as well as staff and physicians. Safety is our top priority and as a hospital authority, we know it is our duty to provide the best quality of care possible and safeguard our patients.”
“Consistently achieving an ‘A’ for patient safety, year after year, day after day, is an extraordinary accomplishment and we congratulate the clinicians, staff, volunteers, and leadership of OakBend Medical Center,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We applaud OakBend for protecting the lives and safety of patients and health care workers. Given the immense challenges confronting the American health care system as it battles the COVID-19 pandemic, we need all hospitals to demonstrate such relentless dedication to their patients.”
The Safety Grade assigns letter grades of ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘F’ to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections, and other harms. Developed under the guidance of a national Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Leapfrog’s grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.
To see more details on OakBend Medical Center’s performance, and to access consumer-friendly tips for patients, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.