LeConte Medical Center Receives “A” Grade in Fall 2015 Hospital Safety Ratings

LeConte Medical Center, Fort Loudoun Medical Center, Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, Methodist Medical Center, Morristown-Hamblen Healthcare System and Roane Medical Center have been recognized for their dedication to patient safety by being awarded an “A” grade in the Fall 2015 Hospital Safety Score rankings released by The Leapfrog Group. The Safety Score rates how well hospitals protect patients from preventable medical errors, injuries and infections within the hospital.

The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization focused on initiating improvements in safety, quality and health care affordability for Americans. The first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the Journal of Patient Safety, the Score is free to the public and designed to give consumers information they can use to protect themselves and their families when facing a hospital stay.

“Our staff at LeConte Medical Center is always working towards quality improvement in an effort to provide the safest environment for our patients. We’re excited to celebrate this success of achieving an ‘A’ in the fall 2015 survey period,” said Jenny Hanson, president and CAO of LeConte Medical Center.          

“As part of our commitment to providing excellent care, Covenant Health focuses on patient safety and quality on a daily basis,” said Jim VanderSteeg, Covenant Health executive vice president of operations. “The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Scores are just one of several measurement tools that provide us with useful information about our hospitals’ performance in these areas. We are pleased that six Covenant hospitals received Leapfrog’s highest scores, and we are committed to ongoing quality improvement in safety and all aspects of patient care.

“An A grade is a powerful reminder of a hospital’s commitment to putting patient safety above all else, and we are pleased to recognize the persistent efforts of clinicians and staff to protect patients,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. 

Developed under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single A, B, C, D, or F score, representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 U.S. general hospitals were assigned scores in October 2015, with 773 hospitals receiving an “A” grade. The Hospital Safety Score is fully transparent, offering a full analysis of the data and methodology used in determining grades on the website.

To see other hospital safety scores and to access consumer-friendly tips related to hospital safety, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org. Consumers can also follow The Hospital Safety Score on social media and download the free Hospital Safety Score app for mobile devices.