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Contact Us >Since 2012, South County Hospital has received an “A” Hospital Patient Safety Score rating from The Leapfrog Group. It is the only hospital in Rhode Island to earn the “A” rating for four consecutive years.
The scores (A, B, C, D or F) are assigned to hospitals based on preventable medical errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. The Hospital Patient Safety Score was compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is designed to give the public information that consumers can use to protect themselves and their families.
“Our longstanding medical safety record from The Leapfrog Group speaks to our continuous goal to provide high quality care, and meet nationally recognized standards,” said South County Hospital President and CEO Lou Giancola.
The Leapfrog Group is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit, independent healthcare transparency advocacy group. The Hospital Patient Safety Score uses national performance measures established by the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. A hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors determines its score.
The Hospital Patient Safety Score is one piece of information consumers should use when planning a hospital stay, according the Leapfrog Group. The Group recommends healthcare consumers use hospitals that receive an “A” Hospital Patient Safety Score.
According to Leapfrog, the safety measurements considered represent the very basic blocks of medical care, such as hand-washing, computerized medication control and nurse staffing levels. One of the most significant problems with today’s healthcare system is the failure to make safety and quality information available to the public so that consumers can make informed choices about where to receive care. The purpose of the Hospital Patient Safety Score is to bring this information to light in a way that is easy for consumers to understand.