24 Illinois Hospitals Earn an A for Patient Safety
CHICAGO – May 1, 2024 – The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit representing hundreds of the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care, driven in Illinois by the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), announced the spring 2024 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades. In Illinois, 109 hospitals were graded, and 24 earned an A, 29 earned a B, 41 earned a C, and 15 earned a D.
MBGH, a non-profit organization representing employer purchasers of health care, and The Leapfrog Group’s Illinois Regional Leader, annually encourages hospitals statewide to participate in Leapfrog’s online patient safety survey. The grades reflect preventable medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections that together kill more than 500 people a day in the United States.
In addition to issuing grades to almost 3,000 individual general hospitals, The Leapfrog Group ranks states based on percentage of A hospitals, and Illinois ranked 30th nationally. Three hospitals have consistently earned straight As since 2012:
- Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
- University of Chicago Medical Center
“No one wants patients to suffer from a preventable medical error, but sadly it happens all too often in hospitals across the country,” said Cheryl Larson, MBGH president and CEO. “Our employer members believe everyone benefits when we know how hospitals are doing so we can work together to prevent these problems and encourage employees and their family members to seek care at hospitals with the highest safety ratings.”
President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group Leah Binder, added, “Hospitals even in the same city can differ greatly in patient safety. A patient's choice of hospital could be a life-or-death decision, and the Hospital Safety Grade arms patients with data to help them make more informed decisions on where they seek care. We are grateful to the hospitals in Illinois for their excellent work and determination to keep patients safe and prevent unnecessary pain and suffering.”
The latest Hospital Safety Grades also show that healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) continue to decline since fall 2022, when HAIs were at a five-year high, while patient experience has shown significant improvement since the last Safety Grade cycle in fall 2023.
About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps for patient safety. Among its initiatives, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade was launched in 2012 and assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. It is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm to patients. It is fully transparent and free to the public, and grades are updated biannually in the fall and in the spring. To look up your hospital’s Safety Grade, please visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org. For more from Leapfrog, follow on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram and sign up for the newsletter.
About the Midwest Business Group on Health
Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit supporting employers seeking solutions to better manage the high cost of health care and the health and productivity of their covered populations. Founded in 1980, MBGH offers members leading educational programs, employer-directed research projects, purchasing opportunities, and community-based activities that increase the value of health care services and the health benefits they offer to members. MBGH serves over 150 companies that provide benefits to over 4 million lives, with employer members spending more than $15 billion on health care each year. For additional details visit MBGH.org and follow us on LinkedIn.
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