LVHN hospitals get ‘A’ grades for safety

Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg, Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono each received an ‘A’ grade on the Hospital Safety Grade report from The Leapfrog Group for spring 2019.

The ratings, released today, reflect how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections. The safety score is designed to give the public information that is useful for choosing a hospital for care.

Lehigh Valley Health Network’s hospitals are among 832 in the country awarded an ‘A’ grade, about one in every three that received a grade, for efforts in protecting patients from harm and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S.

“Safety is important to all of us no matter where we go or what we do,” said Brian Nester, DO, MBA, FACOEP, LVHN’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Certainly when we go to the hospital, we expect the highest quality care delivered in a safe environment. These ‘A’ grades for this important measure of quality are a reflection of the exceptional and skilled people—physicians, nurses and many, many others— who provide that care at Lehigh Valley Health Network every single day.”

“To be recognized nationally as an ‘A’ hospital is an accomplishment the whole community should take pride in,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Hospitals that earn an ‘A’ grade are making it a priority to protect patients from preventable medical harm and error. We congratulate hospital leaders, board members, staff, volunteers and clinicians who work so hard to earn this A.”

Developed under the guidance of a national Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

Full grade details and patient tips for staying safe in the hospital are available at hospitalsafetygrade.org and by following The Leapfrog Group on Twitter and Facebook.