Top Patient Safety Recognition Program
The Leapfrog Group has recognized 346 healthcare organizations as “Straight A” hospitals for maintaining top patient safety ratings for over two years. This prestigious designation, revealed in Leapfrog’s Spring 2025 Safety Grades, was awarded to only 12% of all eligible hospitals nationwide, highlighting exceptional commitment to patient safety.
Elite Hospitals Setting the Safety Standard
According to Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, these achievements represent a significant milestone in healthcare quality. “All hospitals should be proud to earn an ‘A,’ but they should not rest on that laurel. Patient safety is a relentless, never-ending quest to put patients first,” Binder emphasized in a recent statement.
What makes the “Straight A” designation particularly meaningful is its focus on sustained excellence. “Sustaining an A over multiple years reflects a deep-rooted commitment to patient safety,” Binder noted, underscoring the importance of consistent performance rather than temporary improvements.
The biannual safety grades, published every spring and fall, use up to 22 evidence-based measures of patient safety, including rates of preventable errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. Hospitals receive a letter grade ranging from “A” to “F” based on their performance across these measures, with the data collected from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Leapfrog’s own Hospital Survey, and other supplemental data sources.
The Exceptional Eleven: Perfect Safety Records
Within this distinguished group of 346 hospitals lies an even more exclusive subset: 11 healthcare facilities that have earned A grades in all 27 grading periods throughout Leapfrog’s 13-year history of safety assessments. These hospitals with perfect safety records include:
- Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital (Illinois)
- French Hospital Medical Center (California)
- Inova Loudoun Hospital (Virginia)
- Kaiser Permanente Orange County-Anaheim Medical Center (California)
- Mayo Clinic-Phoenix (Arizona)
- Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (Illinois)
- Saint Anne’s Hospital (Massachusetts)
- Sentara CarePlex Hospital (Virginia)
- Sentara Leigh Hospital (Virginia)
- University of Chicago Medical Center (Illinois)
- Virginia Mason Medical Center (Washington)
These institutions represent the gold standard in consistent patient safety practices, demonstrating that excellence can be maintained even as healthcare challenges evolve.
Geographic Safety Excellence Variations
The Leapfrog Group’s analysis revealed significant geographic disparities in hospital safety performance. Some states demonstrated exceptional commitment to safety standards, while others showed room for improvement.
Top-Performing States
States with the highest concentration of “Straight A” hospitals include:
- Utah (29%)
- Connecticut (29%)
- New Jersey (27%)
- Rhode Island (22%)
- Virginia (20%)
These percentages indicate that nearly one-third of hospitals in top-performing states like Utah and Connecticut have maintained excellent safety ratings for over two years.
Areas for Improvement
Conversely, thirteen states and territories had no hospitals achieving the “Straight A” designation:
- Arkansas
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Iowa
- North Dakota
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- Nevada
- South Dakota
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.
This geographic disparity highlights opportunities for safety improvements across different regions.
Spring 2025 Safety Grade Highlights
The latest round of safety grades showed consistent patterns with historical data. Utah, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Virginia maintained their positions with the highest proportion of A-rated hospitals. For Utah, this marks the fourth consecutive grading period with the highest percentage of top-rated facilities.
A notable improvement came from Washington, D.C., which achieved the 11th highest proportion of A-rated hospitals in this round—a significant advancement following years of below-average performance.
Patient Safety: A Continuing Priority
“This is encouraging data, but there’s still significant variation in safety across U.S. hospitals,” Binder explained. The persistence of these variations underscores the importance of transparency in healthcare quality metrics.
Leapfrog’s safety grades provide crucial information for patients making healthcare decisions. “That’s why it’s so important for people to consult Safety Grades when making decisions about seeking care. All hospitals are not the same,” Binder emphasized.
As healthcare continues to evolve, these safety ratings serve as vital guideposts for both patients seeking quality care and healthcare organizations striving for excellence. The “Straight A” hospitals demonstrate that consistent safety performance is achievable—a standard all healthcare facilities should aspire to reach.
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