By DAN MARGOLIES
Only three Kansas City area hospitals received grades of A in the latest hospital safety report card issued by The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit group founded by large employers that aims to improve hospital quality and safety.
The three — Belton Regional Medical Center, Research Medical Center and Shawnee Mission Medical Center — were among 19 area hospitals surveyed by Leapfrog. Five of the hospitals received grades of B and the rest got C’s.
The grades are based on 28 weighted measures that assess hospitals’ ability to prevent errors, injuries and infections. Some health experts say that 4 percent of patients acquire infections in hospitals. And Leapfrog says as many as 1,000 patients die each day in the United States because of preventable hospital errors.
The new survey of 2,520 general hospitals across the U.S. updates an earlier April survey. In the new survey, 31 percent of the hospitals earned an A, 27 percent got a B, 34 percent received a C, 6 percent got a D and 1 percent earned an F.
“While the data tells us that hospitals are improving their safe practices, it’s concerning to see them moving backwards on any measure,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, said in a statement.
“Patients enter a hospital trusting they’re in a safe place, but with 41 percent of hospitals receiving a ‘C,’ ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade, it’s clear that some hospitals are safer than others.”
Hospitals showed improvement on all 15 “process” measures, such as hand hygiene and physician staffing in intensive care units, according to Leapfrog. But the group said the data also showed a lack of progress on outcomes, such as a sponge or tool left in a patient’s body.
The data have limitations; much of it, for instance, is based on information that’s a couple of years old. And hospitals that received top grades are not immune to error. Leapfrog noted, for example, that Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas received an A based on it past performance but recently mishandled the diagnosis of an Ebola patient who later died.
Leapfrog is one of many private organizations that compile hospital safety information. The federal government does too; the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posts safety information on its Hospital Compare website, although it has major limitations.
The groups often use different measures of safety, so hospitals that rank high in some lists rank low in others.
Not included in Leapfrog’s survey are children’s hospitals, critical access hospitals, military and veteran’s hospitals, hospitals in Maryland and small hospitals, none of which provide the data needed to compile the safety scores.
Neither Missouri nor Kansas fared particularly well based on their percentage of hospitals that received grades of A. Missouri ranked 29th by that standard, with only 11 of 60 hospitals receiving an A. Kansas ranked 35th, with only 4 of 32 hospitals earning the top grade.
Kansas, however, improved from a year earlier, when it ranked No. 44. Missouri’s ranking remained unchanged.
The top state, again based on percentage of hospitals receiving an A, was Maine, followed by Massachusetts and Virginia. Tied for worst were North Dakota and the District of Columbia, then Utah, Oklahoma and Mississippi.
Here are the 19 Kansas City area hospitals in the latest Leapfrog survey and their grades:
Belton Regional Medical Center: A
Research Medical Center: A
Shawnee Mission Medical Center: A
Centerpoint Medical Center: B
North Kansas City Hospital: B
Providence Medical Center: B
Saint Luke’s South Hospital: B
St. Mary’s Medical Center of Blue Springs: B
Lee’s Summit Medical Center: C
Liberty Hospital: C
Menorah Medical Center: C
Olathe Medical Center: C
Overland Park Regional Medical Center: C
Saint Luke’s East Hospital: C
Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City: C
Saint Luke’s North Hospital: C
St. Joseph Medical Center: C
Truman Medical Center Hospital Hill: C
University of Kansas Hospital: C
DAN MARGOLIES is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.