Five ScionHealth Community Hospitals Earn ‘A’ Safety Grades from The Leapfrog Group

The rating, awarded for Fall 2024, is Leapfrog’s highest national recognition for patient safety.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (November 15, 2024) – Five ScionHealth community hospitals earned the prestigious “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit group that sets standards for excellence in patient safety and care. Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center (Hartsville, South Carolina), Logan (West Virginia) Regional Medical Center, Southwestern Medical Center (Lawton, Oklahoma), St. Joseph Regional Medical Center (Lewiston, Idaho), and Watertown (Wisconsin) Regional Medical Center each received the top rating during Leapfrog’s Fall 2024 assessments announced on November 15.

Twice a year, Leapfrog assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” grade to hospitals across the country based on over 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and infections, as well as the systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm. Only 32% of the approximately 3,000 hospitals reviewed nationwide earn Leapfrog’s “A” grade.

The Fall 2024 ratings mark the most ScionHealth community hospitals to attain the vaunted Leapfrog “A” grade since the hospital company’s inception in 2021. Of ScionHealth’s 14 community hospitals rated by Leapfrog, four improved their grade from the prior Leapfrog review conducted in the Spring 2024, and eight or 57% improved their grades from Leapfrog’s 2023 Spring ratings. One likely driver of the improvement is the ScionHealth National Quality Strategy, launched in 2023 to improve safety and quality across the company’s 92 hospitals located in 28 states.

“Excellence in healthcare starts with patient safety – it is the foundation from which you build exceptional patient care, outcomes, and experiences,” said Dr. Dean French, Chief Medical Officer at ScionHealth. “It’s no coincidence that ‘safety’ is one of the six domains of healthcare quality, established by the Institute of Medicine, the same domains which are the basis of ScionHealth’s National Quality Strategy. These improved Leapfrog ratings are a strong indicator that our quality strategy – and our community hospitals’ ongoing commitment to patient safety and healthcare excellence – are achieving the desired results.”

Since 2023, ScionHealth’s community hospitals have earned numerous recognitions – even beyond Leapfrog’s A grade – including Healthgrades’ 2024 Patient Safety Excellence Award and 2024 Outstanding Patient Experience Award; The Chartis Center for Rural Health’s 100 top-performing rural and community hospitals listing; Becker’s Hospital Review’s “Great Community Hospitals” listing; U.S. News and World Report’s Top Maternity Hospitals; and Leapfrog’s “Top Hospital” list, among others. The company’s specialty hospitals recently had five facilities rank in the Top 20 of acute care hospital locations nationwide by Reputation.com, a measure reflecting the hospitals’ high-quality, patient-centered care and continuous improvement.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade stands as the only hospital ratings program focused solely on preventable medical errors, infections and injuries that kill more than 500 patients a day in the United States. This program is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring. 

“Achieving an ‘A’ Hospital Safety Grade is a significant accomplishment for these ScionHealth community hospitals,” said Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “It reflects enormous dedication to your patients and their families, and each of these hospitals’ surrounding communities should be proud. I extend my congratulations to ScionHealth, its hospitals, and their leadership, clinicians, staff and volunteers for their tireless efforts to put patients first.”

To see the safety grades of ScionHealth’s community hospitals and other local hospitals, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org and search by city/state or zip code.

About 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 for patient safety. 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. For more, follow them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram and sign up for their newsletter.