St. David's HealthCare facilities nationally recognized for earning “A” ratings in Fall 2019 Leapfrog Hospital

All eligible St. David’s HealthCare facilities were recently awarded an “A” from The Leapfrog Group’s Fall 2019 Hospital Safety Grades. The designation recognizes hospitals’ efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer healthcare. St. David’s HealthCare is the only hospital system to receive an “A” for all eligible facilities in the Austin area.

The Leapfrog Group is an independent, national nonprofit organization committed to improving healthcare quality and safety for patients. The Hospital Safety Grade assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harm to patients in their care.

St. David’s Medical Center, St. David’s North Austin Medical Center, St. David’s South Austin Medical Center, St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center and St. David’s Georgetown Hospital all received an “A” rating. These facilities were among 877 hospitals nationwide to earn this rating. St. David’s Medical Center has received straight “A” ratings since The Leapfrog Group launched the Hospital Safety ScoreSM initiative (now known as Hospital Safety Grades) in 2012. Heart Hospital of Austin and St. David’s Surgical Hospital were not included in the study completed by The Leapfrog Group because the facilities are considered specialty hospitals.

“Safe, high-quality care is fundamental to achieving optimal patient outcomes,” Dr. Ken Mitchell, chief medical officer of St. David’s HealthCare, said. “We applaud our caregivers for creating environments that are safe from infections, injuries and errors.”

Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

For more information about the Hospital Safety Grades, visit the Hospital Safety Grades website.

The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.