Here are the most safe — and unsafe — hospitals in Lowcountry in 2025, new report shows
Ever wondered which hospital is the best?
Since 2012, the Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit focused on patient safety, has collaborated with national health care experts to publish hospital safety scores twice a year.
These reports, published every spring and fall, are designed to create transparency within the U.S. health care system.
According to the Leapfrog Group, the ratings are focused on “errors, accidents, injuries and infections.”
Survey results are intended to be used to educate consumers and purchasers about the safety and quality of health care facilities in their community so they can choose the best place for their care.
How are hospitals graded?
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is largely focused on preventing medical errors and encouraging patient safety and advocacy.
The biannual safety grades are scored by letter grades of ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ ‘D’ or ‘F’ and assigned to all general hospitals in the United States based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections.
According to the Leapfrog Group, these are preventable problems that harm one in four hospital inpatients and cause as many as 250,000 deaths each year
The Leapfrog Group states there are 22 measures used to generate hospital safety grades, which are divided into domains: Process measures, structural measures and outcome measures.
Process Measures: Represent how often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition or procedure.
Structural Measures: Represent the environment in which patients receive care.
Outcome Measures: Represent what happens to a patient while receiving care.
The measures included in the survey are based on the latest science and are selected with guidance from scientific advisors at the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety at Johns Hopkins Medicine. To view all other safety report measures, click here.
Here’s how Lowcountry hospitals scored this spring:
Rankings for Beaufort County area hospitals
Hilton Head Hospital: C
Beaufort Memorial Hospital: C
Coastal Carolina Hospital: C
To learn more about each grade, click here.
Rankings for Savannah area hospitals
Memorial Health University Medical Center: C
Candler Hospital: D
St. Joseph’s Hospital: D
To learn more about each grade, click here.
Rankings for Charleston area hospitals
Medical University of South Carolina: C
Roper Hospital: A
East Cooper Medical Center: C
Roper St. Francis Healthcare - Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital: B
Roper St. Francis Healthcare - Mount Pleasant Hospital: A
Trident Medical Center: B
Summerville Medical Center: C
Roper St. Francis Healthcare - Berkeley Hospital: A
To learn more about each grade, click here.
Grading South Carolina
Overall, in South Carolina, 51 hospitals were ranked, with 24 receiving an ‘A’ grade.
There were 11 hospitals across the state that received a ‘B’, while 15 others recorded ‘C’ grades this spring.
No hospitals in the Palmetto State received an ‘F’ in the spring grades. One hospital, Cherokee Medical Center in Gaffney, was not graded.
Nationally, South Carolina improved in these scores, as it was ranked 5th among all states, tied with Virginia. Of the hospitals in the Palmetto State, 47.1% scored an ‘A’ rating, with the state ranking 10th in the nation.
To view the fall grades for Lowcountry hospitals, click here.
How should the grades be used?
Leapfrog states that the survey results are used to educate consumers and purchasers about the safety and quality of health care facilities in their community so they can choose the best place for their care.
However, since an emergency could strike at any time, Leapfrog encourages consumers to educate themselves on the safety of their local hospitals so they can be prepared if an emergency happens.
Hospitals voluntarily submit their data to the Leapfrog Group to be transparent about their practices, operations, safety and quality of the care they provide.
What hospitals earn ‘A’ grades?
In the spring scores, hospitals in Utah earned the highest rating, with 60.1% of hospitals earning ‘A’ grades.
Other top hospitals that have consistently earned ‘A’ grades over the past 12 years from the Leapfrog Group include:
Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital (Illinois)
French Hospital Medical Center (California)
Inova Loudoun Hospital (Virginia)
Kaiser Permanente Orange County-Anaheim Medical Center (California)
Mayo Clinic-Phoenix (Arizona)
Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (Illinois)
Saint Anne’s Hospital (Massachusetts)
Sentara CarePlex Hospital (Virginia)
Sentara Leigh Hospital (Virginia)
University of Chicago Medical Center (Illinois)
Virginia Mason Medical Center (Washington)
Receiving care
“You should never refuse care in an emergency because of a hospital’s safety grade,” Leapfrog states.
However, they do recommend talking with a doctor about the best hospital for planned, elective procedures. Leapfrog states that their studies show that patients at ‘D’ and ‘F’ ranked hospitals face a greater risk of dying than those at hospitals graded ‘A’.
Hospitals vary on things like “infection rates, surgical errors, and patient injuries — not to mention ER wait times,” so using the safety grades and researching options is important when making your own medical decisions, according to the group.
What to do about an error made in the hospital?
Leapfrog states that if you are concerned, think something might go wrong or if you see an error made in a hospital, there are steps you can take. These include:
Talk to someone immediately.
Do not wait to report the incident if no one you know is around. All health care staff members are there to help.
Discuss the issue in a respectful, yet assertive manner.
If the error happens to you, talk to a hospital employee who can investigate and resolve the problem.
Be clear that you expect to hear back about the issue, and that you would like to see something done to address the error.
You or a family member should follow up after reporting. If you do not receive an answer during your stay or shortly after being discharged, you can contact the hospital’s customer service, patient advocacy or patient and family relations department.
Many hospitals have an established system for reporting errors, such as a suggestion box or a hotline. Leapfrog Group recommends using these systems to address any issues.
What is the Leapfrog Group?
The Leapfrog Group is an independent national nonprofit focused on patient safety, founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers.
Among its initiatives, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade was launched in 2012, where ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ ‘D’ or ‘F’ grades are assigned to all general hospitals in the United States on a biannual basis. Scores are based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections.
It is fully transparent and free to the public. Grades are updated in the fall and in the spring. To learn more about Leapfrog, click here to visit their website.
This story was originally published May 5, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
