LVHN hospitals get ‘A’ ratings

Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono each received an ‘A’ grade on the Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group for spring 2018. The ratings, released April 24, 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 750 in the country awarded an “A” grade for efforts in protecting patients from harm and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S.

According to Brian Nester, DO, MBA, FACOEP, LVHN’s president and chief executive officer, “We support frequent monitoring for safety by Leapfrog, which provides simple, understandable ‘grades’ for this important measurement of quality. Our industry continues to make improvements in patient safety, and we must maintain a tireless focus on this major challenge to help transform our system into one that our patients deserve and of which we truly can be proud.”

“This is the only national rating of how well hospitals protect patients from preventable harm and death, such as medical errors, infections and injuries,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Receiving an ‘A’ safety grade means a hospital is among the best in the country for preventing these terrible problems and putting their patients first, 24 hours a day.”

Developed under the guidance of an Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to approximately 2,500 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is peer reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

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