South Shore Hospital Earns 7th “A” for Patient Safety From The Leapfrog Group

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Kristen Perfetuo
kperfetuo [at] southshorehealth.org

South Shore Hospital, part of South Shore Health, has earned an “A” safety grade rating from The Leapfrog Group, a designation that ranks the hospital among the safest in the Greater Boston area and the United States. The spring 2019 rating marks the seventh time that South Shore Hospital has earned the group’s highest safety grade.

"Safety and quality is our number one priority,” said Gene E. Green, MD, MBA, President & CEO of South Shore Health, the parent organization of South Shore Hospital.

“Our hospital, part of the largest, independent health system in Southeastern Massachusetts, offers patients a breadth of services and care unlike any other healthcare organization in our region, including high risk surgeries, high risk childbirth and comprehensive cancer care. Receiving an ‘A’ grade from the Leapfrog Group validates and demonstrates our ‘safety first’ approach and consistency in practice,” Green said.

This is not the first time that South Shore Hospital has been recognized for meeting high safety standards. In late 2017 the Leapfrog Group designated South Shore Hospital as one of its Top General Hospitals in the country, a distinction achieved only by an elite group of hospitals that meet the nation’s toughest standards for safety and quality.

South Shore Hospital’s safety and quality measurements also included top-tier services which are unique to the region, including:  the first and only verified and designated Level II Trauma Center south of Boston (including the Cape and Islands); the first and only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) located in a community hospital in Massachusetts; the only hospital in Southeastern Massachusetts with 24-hour access to primary angioplasty, a life-saving heart treatment.    

Known as the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, safety ratings of A, B, C, D and F are assigned twice a year to hospitals nationwide based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms. South Shore Hospital was awarded an “A” for its commitment to keeping patients’ safe and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S.

“Recognition by the Leapfrog Group speaks to our efforts to consistently ensure that our hospital patients receive safe, efficient and effective care,” said Ben Asfaw, Vice President of Quality at South Shore Health.

“To be recognized nationally as an ‘A’ hospital is an accomplishment the whole community should take pride in,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Hospitals that earn an ‘A’ grade are making it a priority to protect patients from preventable medical harm and error. We congratulate hospital leaders, board members, staff, volunteers and clinicians who work so hard to earn this A.” 

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 letter grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals bi-annually. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed, fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

To see South Shore Hospital’s full grade, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.