These Lowcountry hospitals earned the best — and worst — safety grades this fall, new report shows
Curious to know which hospital is the best?
Since 2012, Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit focused on patient safety, has collaborated with national health care experts to publish hospital safety scores.
These reports, published every spring and fall, are designed to create transparency within the U.S. health care system.
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.
Hospitals are scored with letter grades, from ‘A’ to ‘F’. With the fall results released on Nov. 13, here’s how Lowcountry hospitals scored and which ones are the most unsafe:
Rankings for Beaufort County area hospitals
No hospital scored an ‘A’ grade in the Beaufort County area. The hospital with the lowest ranking was:
- Hilton Head Medical Center: C
The hospitals with higher rankings were:
- Beaufort Memorial Hospital: B
- Coastal Carolina Medical Center: B
Rankings for Savannah area hospitals
No hospitals in the Savannah area scored an ‘A’ or ‘B’ in the latest rating; the scores were:
- Memorial Health University Medical Center: C
- Candler Hospital: D
- St. Joseph’s Hospital: F
Rankings for Charleston area hospitals
Hospitals in and around the Charleston area only showed one ‘C’ grade:
- Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center: C
The following hospitals scored a ‘B’ or above:
- Roper St. Francis Healthcare - Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital: B
- Trident Medical Center: B
- Summerville Medical Center: B
- Roper Hospital: A
- East Cooper Medical Center: A
- Roper St. Francis Healthcare - Mount Pleasant Hospital: A
- Roper St. Francis Healthcare - Berkeley Hospital: A
- HCA Healthcare Colleton Hospital: A
How are hospitals graded?
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 two domains, each worth 50% of the overall score:
- Process & Structural Measures: Represent how often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition or procedure and 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.
Even with varying scores, Leapfrog states that patients should never refuse care in an emergency because of a hospital’s safety grade.
Grading South Carolina
Overall, in South Carolina, 52 hospitals were included in the fall ranking, with 21 receiving an ‘A’ grade.
17 hospitals across the state received a ‘B’, while 12 others recorded ‘C’ grades. Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill was the only location to record a ‘D’ grade.
No hospitals in the Palmetto State received an ‘F’ in the fall grades. One hospital, MUSC Health - Marion Medical Center in Mullins, was not graded.
Nationally, South Carolina suffered a drop, as it was ranked 10th among all states, after garnering the No. 5 ranking in the spring ratings. Of the hospitals in the Palmetto State, 41.2% scored an ‘A’ rating, which was a lower mark than the spring (47.1%).
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.
Hospitals vary on things like infection rates, surgical errors, patient injuries and ER wait times, so using the safety grades and researching options is important when making your own medical decisions, according to the group. Leapfrog also recommends talking with a doctor about the best hospital for planned, elective procedures.
What to do about an error made in the hospital?
Leapfrog states that if you are concerned, feel like 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.
To learn more about the Leapfrog Group, click here to visit their website.
