Scripps Memorial Hospital In Encinitas Earns 'B' Grade For Safety

Encinitas CA

04 May, 2020

8:30 AM

Description

ENCINITAS, CA — The Leapfrog Group graded hospitals in San Diego County for safety, including Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas. Scripps Memorial Hospital received a "B" grade, according to the new spring 2020 ratings. Safety grades are released by the nonprofit organization twice per year, in the spring and the fall. The ratings of more than 2,600 hospitals focus on accidents, injuries and infections, and help to assess how well a facility prevents medical errors and other harm to patients. It's worth noting the metrics used to determine this spring's hospital grades originated from safety data reported for periods ending in 2018 and 2019. The report does not take into account the strain the new coronavirus pandemic is placing on some hospitals where staff are experiencing shortages of drugs and protection equipment. The latest grades show 33 percent of hospitals nationwide earned an "A" grade while 25 percent earned a "B." Some 35 percent earned a "C" grade, 7 percent a "D" and less than 1 percent received an "F" grade. Here are the Leapfrog Group's spring 2020 grades for hospitals in San Diego County: Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, San Diego: AKaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center, San Diego: AKaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center, San Diego: APomerado Hospital, Poway: AScripps Green Hospital, La Jolla: ASharp Chula Vista Medical Center, Chula Vista: ASharp Coronado Hospital and Healthcare Center, Coronado: ASharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego: AUC San Diego Health Hillcrest - Hillcrest Medical Center, San Diego: AUC San Diego Health La Jolla - Jacobs Medical Center and Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, La Jolla: APalomar Medical Center, Escondido: BScripps Memorial Hospital of Encinitas, Encinitas: BScripps Memorial Hospital of La Jolla, La Jolla: BSharp Grossmont Hospital, La Mesa: BTri-City Medical Center of Oceanside, Oceanside: BParadise Valley Hospital, National City: CScripps Mercy Hospital of Chula Vista, Chula Vista: CScripps Mercy Hospital of San Diego, San Diego: C To determine each 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. See a full description of the methodology.