CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Clarion Hospital received a grade of “F” for patient safety in the Spring 2016 Hospital Safety Rankings released last week by the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit founded by employers and healthcare providers.
“Patient Safety is very important to us here at Clarion Hospital,” said Clarion Hospital CEO Byron Quinton. “We are aware that our score is below average and have developed internal processes to make the necessary improvements. It is our mission to improve our Leapfrog grade within the next quarter.”
The national review, available at LeapFrogGroup.org, gave hospitals a letter grade from A through F based on several factors.
Of the 2,571 hospitals studied nationwide, 798 earned an A, 639 earned a B, 957 earned a C, 162 earned a D, and 15 earned an F. Leapfrog ranked 132 Pennsylvania hospitals, and Clarion Hospital was the only hospital to receive an F.
The ranking is reportedly the third time Clarion received an F, but hospital officials are not surprised.
“We have been making improvements; however, we did anticipate that our score would be low for the spring,” said Clarion Hospital Quality Director/Patient Safety Officer Melissa Polito. “Although improvements have been made, the data is not real time, so it will take some time for the improvements to be seen on the score. Some of the data is three years old and will continue to affect us until it is updated.”
Clarion Hospital’s rates of hospital-acquired infections, patient harm incidents, and possible deaths are all within the state and national averages, according to local hospital officials.
“The grade actually compels our organization, despite limited resources, to make every effort toward improving our culture of safety across our continuum of care,” said Polito. “We have a commitment to each and every one of our patients to deliver the best healthcare possible and continue to keep quality healthcare close to home in Clarion.
“Clarion is focused on patient safety and the provision of quality care. Clarion Hospital strives to provide the very best care to all of our patients. We have an active Patient Safety Committee who have been implementing a culture of safety and will continue to follow AHRQ’s (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) guidelines.”
Leapfrog looked at medical errors, accidents, injuries, and infections to determine the grades. The goal was to identify a patient’s risk of further injury or infection if they visited an individual hospital.
The breakdown on individual hospitals on the website at HospitalSaftyScore.org included the following information for Clarion Hospital:
Dangerous objects left in patient’s body: below average
This Hospital’s Score: 0.403; Best Hospital’s Score: 0.000; Average Hospital’s Score: 0.034; Worst Hospital’s Score: 0.403.
Surgical wound split open: above average
This Hospital’s Score: 1.65; Best Hospital’s Score: 0.86; Average Hospital’s Score: 1.70; Worst Hospital’s Score: 2.86.
Collapsed lung: below average
This Hospital’s Score: 0.52; Best Hospital’s Score: 0.18; Average Hospital’s Score: 0.39, Worst Hospital’s Score: 0.64.
Serious breathing problem: below average
This Hospital’s Score: 12.83; Best Hospital’s Score: 4.11; Average Hospital’s Score: 12.05; Worst Hospital’s Score: 24.29.
Dangerous blood clot: above average
This Hospital’s Score: 3.05; Best Hospital’s Score: 1.17; Average Hospital’s Score: 4.18; Worst Hospital’s Score: 10.
For the complete Clarion Hospital scores, click here.
“It is time for every hospital in America to put patient safety at the top of their priority list because tens of thousands of lives are at stake,” Leapfrog President Leah Binder said in a press release. “The Hospital Safety Score alerts consumers to the dangers, but as this analysis shows, even A hospitals are not perfectly safe.”
Leapfrog also conducted an analysis with researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. They estimated that 206,021 avoidable deaths occur each year in U.S. hospitals.
Hospitals given a B rating by Leapfrog had a 9 percent higher risk of avoidable death than A hospitals. That number jumps to 35 percent in C hospitals and 50 percent higher in D and F hospitals.
