3 days ago
What grade did North Ala. hospitals receive from the Leapfrog Hospital Safety report?
NORTH ALABAMA (WHNT) — North Alabama hospitals received grades ranging from an A to two Fs.
The Leapfrog Group is an independent national nonprofit focused on patient safety. On May 1, the group released its grade reports for hospitals across the nation for Spring 2025.
The report card is like a school grade scale: A, B, C, D and F. These grades are 'assigned to all general hospitals in the United States based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections,' the Leapfrog Group said.
Hospitals receive a score in multiple categories within the following sections: Infections, Problems with Surgery, Safety Problems, Practices to Prevent Errors and Doctors, Nurses & Hospital Staff. Each section can have up to seven different categories that can be given a performance score of Worse than Average, Average and Better than Average, which plays into the overall hospital grade.
Disclaimer: The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade scores hospitals on their overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors. The grades are derived from expert analysis of publicly available data using up to 31 evidence-based, national measures of hospital safety.
In the list, 13 North Alabama hospitals were graded, receiving a grade anywhere from A to F. But, which hospital received what grade? Find out in the list below!
Based on the data, Helen Keller Hospital is overall considered worse than average in the section titled 'Practices to Prevent Errors.' Specifically, handwashing, safe medication administration, and doctors' orders medications through the computer were in the red zone.
That being said, the 'Safety Problems' section, most of the reports from the data suggest the hospital is better than average. For this section, there were seven categories that the hospital was rated on. Five of the seven were labeled as better than average, while one was labeled as average and one was labeled as below average.
In previous years, Helen Keller Hospital received a relatively similar score, receiving a C for both Fall and Spring 2024, and a D for Fall 2023 and a C for Spring 2023.
Based on data collected from Leapfrog, the Shoals Hospital received a C for its Spring 2025 grade. While this seems bad, the data collected from Leapfrog isn't complete. Out of 32 categories to grade the hospital on, only 14 of the categories are given a performance level. Seven of those 14 rated categories scored better than average, showing up the most in the 'Practices to Prevent Errors' section.
The 18 other categories that were not given a performance level were labeled as 'not available.' Based on Leapfrog's website, ''Not Available' means that the hospital does not have data for this measure. This could be because the measure is related to a service the hospital does not provide. For example, a hospital that does not have an ICU would not be able to report data about ICUs. It could also be because the hospital had too few patients or cases to report data for a particular condition or procedure. A 'Not Available' result does not mean that the hospital withheld information from the public,' the group said.
The hospital, based on previous reports, has been all over the grade scale. In 2022, the hospital received an F for the Spring but a B for the Fall. In 2023, Shoals Hospital received a C for the Spring but a D for the Fall. For 2024, the hospital received a C for the entire year.
DeKalb Regional Medical Center was the ONLY North Alabama hospital to receive an A on its Spring 2025 report card. 14 of the categories were rated as better than average, with the best section being the 'Doctors, Nurses & Hospital Staff.'
A point of concern seemed to stem from the 'Problems with Surgery' section, where only one of the seven categories was rated as better than average. The rest were considered average, with one category labeled as worse than average. Still, the hospital received a 0.00 score for this section. The best hospital's score was graded as 0.00, with the worst being 0.327 and the average being 0.014.
In years past, DeKalb Regional Medical Center has been consistent in its scoring. In 2024, it received A's across the board for the year. In 2023, the hospital received a C for the Spring but an A for the Fall.
The Russellville Hospital received a C based on the data collected from Leapfrog, mainly due to the 'Practices to Prevent Errors' section. In this section, four of the six categories are labeled as worse than average, with communication about discharge labeled as average and the staff work together to prevent errors category blank because the hospital declined to report this information to the public.
The best section for the hospital could be considered as the 'Problems with Surgery' section, as four of the seven categories were given a performance score. Two of these categories received an average performance grade, while one received a better-than-average performance score and one received a worse-than-average performance score.
The Russellville Hospital, based on data from years past, seems to stay consistent with either a B or a C grade. In 2024, the hospital received a B for the Spring but a C for the Fall, similarly to 2023, where the Spring grade was a C but the Fall grade was a B.
Highlands Medical Center seemed to struggle in the 'Practices to Prevent Errors' section of the grading because four of the five categories given a performance score were considered worse than average. The hospital received a score of 15 for this section, simply because the Leapfrog data said the hospital declined to report its performance on this measure, so a score was assigned to reflect the lack of information available. The highest hospital score for this section was a 100, with the average hospital receiving an 80.23 score.
The hospital performed its best in the 'Problems with Surgery' category, receiving an average performance score from four of the five scored categories.
This grade is an improvement for the hospital, according to Leapfrog data. This is the first time the hospital has received a C since Spring 2022. After that, the hospital has continuously received a D on its report card until now.
The North Alabama Medical Center was one of two North Alabama hospitals that received this grade. For the sections that Leapfrog graded on, the 'Infections' section was given the best performance score. Six of the six categories in this section received a better-than-average performance score. The hospital received a 0.00 score, with the highest hospital's score being a 0.00. The average hospital's score was 0.719, and the hospital with the worst score in this section received a 2.850.
The section where this hospital could work on more is 'Safety Problems.' Seven categories were given a performance score. Two were scored as worse than average and four were given an average performance score.
In recent years, the hospital received a B for 2024, and Cs for both 2023 and 2022.
The area for improvement for the Athens-Limestone Hospital is 'Safety Problems.' Of the seven categories, four were given an average performance score and two were given a worse-than-average score. The hospital received an overall 1.00 score for this section. The hospital with the best score received a 0.53, the worst score was a 3.10 and the average hospital received a 1.00 score.
The Athens-Limestone Hospital scored the best in the 'Infections' section. Its overall score was 0.00, with the best score for a hospital being 0.00. The hospital with the worst score received a 2.850, and the average hospital score was 0.719.
For 2024, the hospital received a D for the Spring and a C for the Fall. For 2023 as a whole, it received a C.
Crestwood Medical Center, while receiving worse-than-average performance scores in the 'Doctors, Nurses & Hospital Staff' section, the hospital received better overall scores for the section. Five of the six categories in this section were in the red and one category was rated as average. However, the hospital's score was a 101.54 overall score, with the best hospital's score being 120.00. The hospital with the worst score received a 9.23 and the average hospital received a 117.49 score.
The hospital had the best overall performance score in the 'Problems with Surgery' section. Out of the seven categories, two were considered better than average, four were considered average and one was worse than average.
The grade of a C is a step up from the most recent grade for 2024, being a D for Fall and a C for Spring.
Huntsville Hospital was one of the two lowest-ranking hospitals in North Alabama. The hospital's worst-scoring section was 'Practices to Prevent Errors.' Its overall score was 15, according to Leapfrog. This is because the hospital reportedly declined to report its performance on this section, so Leapfrog assigned the hospital a score to reflect the lack of information available. Five of the six categories in this section were scored. Three of the five categories were scored worse than average while the other two were scored as average.
The hospital had the best section in 'Problems with Surgery.' While the performance scores appear to be low, the overall score provided by Leapfrog shows the hospital scored the same as the best hospital's score: 0.00. The average hospital score was 0.014 and the worst hospital scored 0.327.
This grade is one step down from 2024, with a grade of D. In both 2023 and 2022, Huntsville Hospital receied a C grade.
Madison Hospital was the other hospital in North Alabama to receive the lowest grade. The hospital received almost identical performance and overall scores to Huntsville Hospital. The hospital's worst-scoring section was 'Practices to Prevent Errors.' Its overall score was 15, according to Leapfrog. The average score for this section was 80.23, with the highest score being 100.
Madison Hospital's best-scoring section was also 'Problems with Surgery.' While the performance scores appear to be low, the overall score provided by Leapfrog shows the hospital scored the same as the best hospital's score: 0.00.
In 2024, the hospital also received a D for the year, which was a small step down from 2023. This year, the hospital received a C grade for the Spring and a D grade for the Fall.
Marshall Medical Center North was the only North Alabama hospital to receive a D grade. Based on available Leapfrog data, the hospital received the worst performance scores for the 'Infections' section. Its overall score was 2.452. The best score was 0.00, the worst was 2.850 and the average score was 0.719.
The hospital's best scoring section was 'Problems with Surgery.' Three of the seven sections are scored as better than average, two are average and two are scored as worse than average.
This grade is consistent with previous Leapfrog data. For 2024, the Marshall Medical Center North received a D for the Spring and a C for the Fall. However, for both 2023 and 2022, the hospital received a D grade.
The Decatur-Morgan Hospital-Decatur Campus had four of the five sections scoring in the nationwide best hospital's score: 'Infections,' 0.00; 'Problems with Surgery,' 0.00; 'Practices to Prevent Errors,' 100; 'Doctors, Nurses & Hospital Staff,' 120.
The worst section, scored for the hospital, was 'Safety Problems.' In this section, the hospital received an overall score of 1.17. The best hospital scored a 0.53, with the worst hospital scoring a 3.10.
This grade is consistent with previous years, considering 2024's yearly score was a B. In 2023, the hospital scored a C for the Spring, and the grade for the Fall was a B.
You can find out all the hospitals in Alabama or nationwide that were given a grade on the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade website here.
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