In the Fall 2023 safety report cards released by The Leapfrog Group, the three major hospitals of Sarasota County upheld their high standards, earning ‘A’ grades. The Sarasota Memorial Hospital, HCA Florida Englewood Hospital, and HCA Florida Doctors Hospital remain consistent in their commitment to high-quality healthcare and safety, maintaining an unbroken record of A grades. The Healthgrades specialty hospital rankings also endorsed the hospitals’ accomplishments, indicating top-level patient care and infection control.
The Sarasota Memorial Hospital Venice campus, which inaugurated its services in late 2021, is yet to be included in the rankings due to its relatively recent operational start. In the meantime, the HCA Florida Englewood Hospital has emerged as one of only two hospitals in Florida to have received 23 consecutive ‘A’s for hospital safety from The Leapfrog Group, a distinction held since 2012. HCA-Englewood’s CEO, Joe Rudisill, expressed immense pride in the hospital’s consistent level of excellence in patient safety, attributing it to their personnel’s dedication.
Sarasota Memorial, having participated since 2016, has secured 16 straight ‘A’s. Leapfrog’s safety grades are issued to almost 3,000 general hospitals based on their ability to prevent medical errors, infections, and injuries. Sarasota Memorial Health Care System CEO, David Verinder, commended the hospital’s staff for their resilience and unwavering commitment to the community despite the numerous challenges involved, especially post the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leapfrog’s new grades design to display the effectiveness of hospitals in reducing healthcare-acquired infections in the post-pandemic era, holds a significance. According to Leapfrog’s president, Leah Binder, despite the improvements, there’s still room for more progress, particularly in areas associated with patient healthcare experiences.
The report further reveals significant reduction at the national level, in three major healthcare acquired infections – Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), which had reached an alarming five-year high during the pandemic period.
Details on hospital strengths and weaknesses can be found at The Leapfrog Group’s official website, www.hospitalsafetygrade.org. Sarasota Memorial Hospital excelled in a range of areas like dealing with surgical complications, error prevention practices, and staff training for error prevention. However, improvements in preventing blood and urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections after colon surgery are still needed.
HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital, though excelling in infection prevention and safety measures, fell slightly below average in sepsis prevention after surgery; and communication with patients about their medication.
Despite earning consistent ‘B’ grades, Lakewood Ranch Medical Center and Manatee Memorial Hospital require improvements in specific areas like preventing urinary tract infections and sepsis after surgery, bedside patient care and communication.
HCA Florida Blake Hospital and HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital slipped to a ‘C’ grade in the recent report cards. Both hospitals showed competency in certain areas while requiring improvements in critical zones like preventing dangerous blood clots and surgical infections after colon surgeries. Similarly, Shore Point Health in both Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda requires significant improvements in several areas.
Leapfrog’s biannual report cards serve as essential evaluation metrics, providing ‘A’ to ‘F’ letter grades to nearly 3,000 hospitals across the nation based on performance in over 30 different aspects including infection and injury rates, accident prevention measures, and systems in place to prevent medical errors.