Upon discerning the ever-crucial issue of patient safety and avoiding preventable medical mishaps, several hospitals in East Valley have proved exemplary with top grades awarded, while a small contingent received satisfactory grades. This information was disclosed by an esteemed nonprofit watchdog, The Leapfrog Group, as part of its biannual safety ratings. The Leapfrog Group uses up to 30 performance metrics sourced nationally from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as other data points to compute a single-letter grade. This grade represents a hospital’s collective performance in maintaining patient safety and preventing medical errors, accidents, injuries, and infections. Alarmingly, these avoidable circumstances lead to harm in one in four hospital patients and contribute to an estimated 250,000 deaths each year.
Among the 12 recognized East Valley hospitals, HonorHealth took the lead with four facilities – three located in Scottsdale and one in Mesa – earning an ‘A’ grade. Other distinguished recipients of an ‘A’ grade included the Chandler Regional Medical Center, Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, and Banner Ironwood Medical Center in Queen Creek. HonorHealth’s impressive commitment to achieving high Leapfrog grades was made evident by Dr. Nina Shah, HonorHealth’s Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President.
Some of the key areas of development at HonorHealth include routine safety huddles promoting open discussions about safety success stories, reviewing near misses, and pinpointing real time improvement opportunities. Apart from fostering greater team-wide accountability, transparency, and continuous learning, Shah emphasized that HonorHealth has put into place numerous infection prevention initiatives. By leveraging modern technology and tools, HonorHealth continues to effectively identify risks, monitor trends, and take necessary corrective measures early on.
In another feature of the report, a stark contrast was noticed with Dignity Health Arizona General Hospital in Mesa receiving a ‘C’ grade. Despite facing issues with the availability of data related to urinary track and sepsis after surgery infections, along with patient falls, injuries, and leadership deficits, they registered positive outcomes in numerous areas including the prevention of dangerous objects being left behind in a patient’s body, and the responsiveness of hospital staff. Banner Health had a mixed bag of results with ‘B’ and ‘C’ grades across its four evaluated hospitals in Mesa and Gilbert. Their prominent areas of improvement included nursing and bedside patient care, patient communication regarding medication and discharge, and various surgery-related complications, amongst others.
The grading system leveraged by The Leapfrog Group has been in use for over two decades as a barometer for hospital safety. In their recent findings, Leapfrog marked Arizona as the 27th highest in the U.S with respect to the number of ‘A’ grade hospitals, while Utah ranked at the top. They highlighted that one in eight hospitals has maintained an ‘A’ grade for over two years, though there were no ‘A’ grade hospitals in Iowa, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.