St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine and member of Steward Health Care,  was awarded an “A” grade in the Fall 2014 update to the Hospital Safety Score, which rates how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections. The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered byThe Leapfrog Group (Leapfrog), an independent industry watchdog. The first and only hospital safety rating to be analyzed in the peer-reviewed Journal of Patient Safety, the Score is designed to give the public information they can use to protect themselves and their families. All ten acute care hospitals in the Steward Health Care System (Steward) received “A” grade from Leapfrog.

“Focusing on a patient’s experience, particularly his or her safety and well-being while under the care of our talented doctors, nurses and support staff, has been and continues to be a priority of St. Elizabeth’s,” said Dr. Roger Mitty, interim president, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. “While part of all of our jobs is to observe policy and procedure to support a safe patient environment, caregivers also meet regularly to discuss multiple aspects of care including how to enhance patient safety. This recognition is validation that ongoing vigilance is in the best interest of our patients.”

Calculated 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 general U.S. hospitals were assigned scores this Fall.

“Patient safety needs to be a 24-7 priority for hospitals, as errors and infections are all too common and often deadly,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which administers the Hospital Safety Score. “We commend the ‘A’ hospitals, including St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, for helping us to raise the standards of health care nationwide, and demonstrating that they’ve made the well-being of patients a top priority.” 

Acute care hospitals in the Steward Health Care System that received an “A” include: Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley in Haverhill, Norwood Hospital, Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Quincy Medical Center, in addition to St. Elizabeth’s. Leapfrog does not evaluate specialty hospitals, such as New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton, which specializes in long-term acute care.

“We are extraordinarily proud that St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center has achieved a Leapfrog A Safety Score for the third cycle in a row,” said Justine Carr, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Steward.  “Safety of our patients is fundamental to our mission of clinical excellence.”

 In the past four years, Steward has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in new services, new physicians, significant infrastructure improvements and new clinical technology to improve the quality of care and patient experience in our hospitals.

About St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center
St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center is a major academic medical center affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and part of the Steward Health Care Network.  Areas of medical excellence include cardiology, cardiac surgery, neurosciences, general and robotic surgery, bariatric surgery, women’s health, high-risk obstetrics, bone and joint health, hematology/oncology, pulmonary medicine and emergency medicine. Additional information is available at www.steward.org

About The Leapfrog Group
The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) is a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.