SAN ANTONIO – Some people won’t go to a restaurant, movie, or hotel without checking the reviews first. But what about your local hospital? Shouldn’t you know its rating before entrusting it with your health?
A non-profit called Leapfrog publishes easy to understand safety grades for hospitals. Each facility graded on 30 performance measures from hospital infections to patient falls and injuries.
Kenneth Hutchinson says his family was shattered when his father-in-law passed away suddenly from infection following a stay in the hospital.
“The infection got into his bloodstream and his whole system and that’s what killed him,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson says he wishes he’d known about HospitalSafetyGrade.org, a website that gives hospitals letter grades from “A” through “F” for how they score on patient safety.
The Fall 2023 grades are now out and many of our San Antonio hospitals received “A” grades.
You can also check how each hospital scored on individual categories like infections, safe medication administration, even dangerous objects left in patients’ bodies during surgery.
You can see if your hospital received an average, better than average or worse than average score.
“This hospital grading system, let me tell you what it does, it puts hospitals on notice that they got to step up their game,” Hutchinson said.
What do hospitals think of the safety grades?
We asked Christus Health. Two of its hospitals, Christus Santa Rosa and Westover Hills, received “C” grades. The site gave them Worse Than Average scores for prevention of blood and sepsis infections, bed sores, and safe medication administration.
Christus Health said in a statement, “Christus Health is dedicated to the safety of every patient and to continuous improvement as we strive for zero harm in every aspect of the care we provide to the communities we are blessed to serve. Leapfrog ratings do not tell the full story of a hospital’s commitment to safety. While it can be helpful, the rating is not absolute. The methodology leapfrog uses also raises concern because scores can be influenced by whether a hospital participates in a survey and provides supplemental information.”
You’ll find the hospital safety grade website here.