Leapfrog Gives Phoenixville, Pottstown Hospitals 'D' Grades

Phoenixville PA

03 May, 2021

2:49 PM

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PHOENIXVILLE, PA — Hospital safety grades from Leapfrog were low for several Tower Health hospitals in Chester County, including Phoenixville Hospital, Brandywine Hospital, and Pottstown Hospital. The three facilities were awarded grades of 'D' by the Leapfrog Group, an organization the performs regular assessments of hospitals. Numerous Pennsylvania hospitals received top safety marks while others didn't quite measure up in The Leapfrog Group's annual spring safety grades. The nonprofit health care watchdog group grades hospitals twice a year, assigning letter grades from "A" to "F" based on each hospital's ability to protect patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries, and infections. Phoenixville, Pottstown, and Brandywine hospitals are all part of Tower Health and received grades of D, but Tower Health said this is because they had not participated in the rating process. "These Tower Health hospitals do not participate in Leapfrog reporting and Leapfrog does not have access to their most recent quality data," said Mary Beth Lowery, Marketing Director for Tower Health. A communications person for Pottstown Hospital likewise told Patch, "Pottstown Hospital does not participate in Leapfrog reporting and Leapfrog does not have access to our most recent quality data." In Pennsylvania, 56 hospitals received an "A" grade, 31 hospitals received a "B" grade, 30 hospitals received a "C" grade and eight hospitals received a "D" grade. No Pennsylvania hospitals received an "F" grade. The Safety Grade is comprised of up to 27 measures of patient safety, explained Erica Mobley, Vice President of Administration for The Leapfrog Group. Mobley said that while most hospitals choose to participate in the voluntary Leapfrog Hospital Survey and therefore have some data from that Survey contributed to their Safety Grade, participation is not required. Leapfrog uses an alternative methodology to calculate grades for non-participating hospitals so that they are not penalized, she said. More information on the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade methodology can be found here. More than 2,700 general, acute-care U.S. hospitals were assessed for Leapfrog's Spring Safety Grades. Among those hospitals, 27 have achieved 19 consecutive "A" grades in every biannual grading cycle since Leapfrog launched the safety grades in spring 2012. It's worth noting the hospitals were graded during a time of extraordinary pressure on the health care system due to the coronavirus pandemic. "This pandemic emphasized how much we rely on America's health care workforce," Leapfrog Group President and CEO Leah Binder said in a news release. "Our straight 'A' hospitals remind us how preparedness protected their patients as well as their workforce and created a high level of organizational resilience." Chester County Hospital-Penn Medicine, in West Chester, received a grade of 'A,' along with Paoli Hospital. Leapfrog said, "We find that straight 'A' hospitals have strong structures of safety in place," said Binder. "These hospitals are continuously learning, monitoring data, and addressing areas of improvement." A webpage that provides links to Leapfrog's ratings for specific hospitals, along with links to the details of the grade can be accessed here. Here are the rankings, according to Leapfrog:A Abington Memorial HospitalBryn Mawr HospitalButler Memorial HospitalChester County HospitalDoylestown HospitalGeisinger Bloomsburg HospitalGeisinger Lewistown HospitalGeisinger Shamokin Area Community HospitalHeritage Valley BeaverHeritage Valley SewickleyHoly Redeemer Hospital and Medical CenterHospital of the University of PennsylvaniaLancaster General HospitalLehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar CrestLehigh Valley Hospital - HazeltonLehigh Valley Hospital - MuhlenbergLehigh Valley Hospital - PoconoMeadville Medical CenterPaoli HospitalPenn Presbyterian Medical CenterPenn State Health Holy Spirit Medical CenterPenn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical CenterPenn State Health St. Joseph Medical CenterRiddle HospitalSaint Vincent HospitalSharon Regional Medical CenterSt. Clair HospitalSt. Luke's Hospital - Allentown CampusSt. Luke's Hospital - Anderson CampusSt. Luke's Monroe CampusSt. Luke's Quakertown HospitalSt. Luke's Sacred Heart CampusSt. Luke's University Hospital - Bethlehem CampusSt. Mary Medical CenterTemple University HospitalUPMC AltoonaUPMC CommunityUPMC EastUPMC HamotUPMC HarrisburgUPMC Horizon - Shenango Valley CampusUPMC McKeesportUPMC MercyUPMC NorthwestUPMC PassavantUPMC Passavant - CranberryUPMC SomersetUPMC St. MargaretUPMC Susquehanna - WilliamsportWashington HospitalWellSpan Chambersburg HospitalWellSpan Ephrata Community HospitalWellSpan Gettysburg HospitalWellSpan York HospitalWestmoreland Hospital B Abington Health Lansdale HospitalACMH HospitalAllegheny General HospitalEinstein Medical Center MontgomeryEvangelical Community HospitalForbes HospitalGeisinger Community Medical CenterGeisinger Wyoming Valley Medical CenterGrand View HealthIndiana Regional Medical CenterJefferson BucksJefferson FrankfordJefferson Regional Medical CenterJefferson TorresdaleLatrobe HospitalMercy Fitzgerald HospitalMonongahela Valley HospitalPennsylvania HospitalReading HospitalSt. Luke's Gnaden Huetten CampusSuburban Community HospitalTemple University Hospital Jeanes CampusThomas Jefferson University HospitalThomas Jefferson University Hospital - Methodist Hospital CampusUPMC CarlisleUPMC Pinnacle LititzUPMC PresbyterianUPMC West ShoreWellspan Good Samaritan HospitalWest Penn HospitalWilkes-Barre General Hospital C Allegheny Valley HospitalBradford Regional Medical CenterCanonsburg General HospitalChan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at WindberChestnut Hill HospitalClarion HospitalCrozer Chester Medical CenterDelaware County Memorial HospitalDLP Conemaugh Memorial Medical CenterEinstein Medical Center Elkins ParkEinstein Medical Center PhiladelphiaJennersville HospitalLankenau Medical CenterLehigh Valley Hospital - SchuylkillLower Bucks HospitalMillcreek Community HospitalMoses Taylor HospitalMount Nittany Medical CenterNazareth HospitalPenn Highlands ClearfieldPenn Highlands DuBoisPenn Highlands HuntingdonRegional Hospital of ScrantonSpringfield HospitalSt. Luke's Easton HospitalTaylor HospitalUPMC JamesonUPMC Pinnacle HanoverUPMC Pinnacle MemorialUPMC Shadyside D Brandywine HospitalGuthrie Robert Packer HospitalHeritage Valley KennedyPhoenixville HospitalPottstown HospitalUniontown HospitalWarren General HospitalWayne Memorial Hospital Across all states, highlights of findings from the spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade include: Thirty-three percent of hospitals received an "A," 24 percent received a "B," 35 percent received a "C," 7 percent received a "D," and less than 1 percent received an "F."Five states with the highest percentages of "A" hospitals are Massachusetts, Idaho, Maine, Virginia, and North Carolina.There were no "A" hospitals in South Dakota or North Dakota. To determine each state's grade, Leapfrog used up to 28 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources. When averaged, performance measures produce a single letter grade representing a hospital's overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.The goal of the Hospital Safety Grade is to reduce deaths caused by hospital errors and injuries.Leapfrog estimates that if the risk at all hospitals was equivalent to what it is at "A" hospitals, 50,000 lives at other facilities would have been saved. Overall, the researchers estimate that 160,000 lives are lost every year due to avoidable medical errors. That figure is down from 2016, when the Leapfrog Group estimated there were 205,000 avoidable deaths.The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is peer-reviewed by a panel of national experts, and the Leapfrog Group receives guidance from the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. Max Bennett contributed to this report.