Quality and patient safety earn South County Health straight A’s

For the fifth consecutive year, South County Hospital in Wakefield, RI, part of South County Health, earned straight A’s for hospital quality and patient safety. The Leapfrog Group, the nation’s leading nonprofit watchdog on hospital quality and safety, made the announcement after completing a review of 30 measures of publicly available hospital safety data. The performance measures produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors. South County Hospital is one of only 63 hospitals nationwide to attain the straight A rating and the only hospital in Rhode Island to earn straight A’s for five consecutive years.

“The fact that we’re one of the few hospitals in the country to earn straight A’s in patient safety speaks to the efforts we make every day to ensure that patient care is our number one priority,” said Lou Giancola, president and CEO of South County Health.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade was developed under the guidance of an expert panel that reviews hospital safety data to assign A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. The grades are calculated by top patient safety experts, peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Some of the areas analyzed by the Leapfrog Group include, inpatient care management, medication safety, maternity care, infections and injuries.

“Straight A hospitals are a rare breed. Not only did South County Hospital achieve the highest national standards for safety, but they consistently maintain that level of excellence,” said Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “That means that they put the well-being of their patients first, every hour of every day, year after year. We are proud to recognize that tireless commitment.”