NC claims top spot for nation’s safest hospitals. See how Triangle hospitals rank

North Carolina has the highest percentage of top-rated hospitals in the U.S. based on safety factors, according to a new watchdog report.

The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers focused on health care safety, released its spring 2022 Hospital Safety Grades Tuesday. The new rankings put North Carolina in the top spot for hospital safety, up from the state’s previous No. 2 ranking based on Leapfrog’s fall safety grades.

The Hospital Safety Grade list assigns a letter grade to general hospitals in the U.S. based on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections that kill or harm patients. Hospital Safety Grades are focused solely on safety, and are assigned using publicly available data.

In addition to the state’s overall rank, 87 hospitals in the state received safety grades individually.

Learn more about how Triangle hospitals stacked up in the new rankings, how the grades are calculated and how grades should be interpreted.

How safe are Triangle-area hospitals?

Based on the spring 2022 Hospital Safety Grades, the following Triangle hospitals received A grades:

▪ WakeMed Raleigh Campus. This is WakeMed Raleigh’s second A grade in a row, having also received an A in Leapfrog’s fall 2021 ratings.

▪ Duke Raleigh Hospital. Duke Raleigh has received straight A grades since at least spring 2018.

▪ UNC Rex Hospital. UNC Rex has received straight A grades since Leapfrog began the Hospital Safety Grade program in 2012.

▪ WakeMed Cary Hospital. This is WakeMed Cary’s second A grade in a row, having also received an A in Leapfrog’s fall 2021 ratings.

▪ WakeMed North Hospital. WakeMed North received its first rating from Leapfrog, also an A, in fall 2021.

▪ Duke University Hospital. This hospital has received A grades since fall 2018.

▪ Duke Regional Hospital. Duke Regional has received straight A grades since at least spring 2018.

One Triangle hospital, Johnston Health in Clayton, received a B grade. That’s down from the hospital’s previous A grade in fall 2021.

UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill received a C grade, its second in a row after also receiving a C in the fall 2021 ratings. The hospital had previously received A grades dating back to at least spring 2018.

To see every Hospital Safety Grade assigned in North Carolina, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org and search by state for North Carolina.

Note: Leapfrog recommends patients decide on where to receive care based on a hospital’s current safety grade, but says past grades can “tell you a lot about that hospital’s track record in keeping its patients safe from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.”

How are Hospital Safety Grades calculated?

Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grades are assigned biannually — once in the spring and once in the fall. The Hospital Safety Grade program was established in 2012.

▪ Grades are assigned using letters, with A being the best possible grade and F being the worst.

▪ The overall grades are based on over 30 evidence-based measures of the basics of patient safety, including handwashing, entering prescriptions through a computer and the availability of highly trained nurses.

▪ The grades are assigned using data from a variety of public sources, including from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

▪ Grades are generally assigned to nearly 3,000 hospitals. Any general, acute-care hospital in the U.S. for which there is enough publicly available data is included in the grading list.

▪ Individual scores that contribute to a hospital’s overall letter grade fall into five categories:

• Infections, including how often patients at the hospital contract MRSA, urinary tract infections, blood infections and more.
• Problems with surgery, including how often dangerous items are left in a patient’s body after surgery and how often surgical wounds split open.
• Safety problems, including patient falls and dangerous bed sores.
• Practices to prevent errors, including whether hospital staff practice proper handwashing.
• Doctors, nurses and hospital staff, including whether the hospital has effective leadership and enough qualified nurses.

For the spring 2022 Hospital Safety Grades list, North Carolina had the highest percentage of hospitals with A ratings.

How should you use Leapfrog’s hospital safety scores?

In a video explaining how to use the hospital safety grades, Leapfrog recommends using the Hospital Safety Grades to inform your decision when choosing a hospital, or to simply learn more about hospitals in your area.

▪ Using Leapfrog’s search tool on the homepage at hospitalsafetygrade.org, you can search for hospitals by hospital name, city and state, just state or by ZIP code.

▪ When you get to your results page, Leapfrog recommends looking for hospitals with the highest grade.

• If there is more than one hospital with a good grade, look at other things that are important to you when seeking care, such as location of the hospital and its proximity to you.
• If a hospital doesn’t have a good grade, Leapfrog recommends searching for another location, or talking with your doctor to discuss what you can do to stay safe in the hospital.

The overall letter grade for a hospital gives you the “big picture,” Leapfrog says. But you can also see the individual scores that make up the hospital’s grade.

▪ If there are certain issues or risks you’re concerned about, make sure to check the hospital’s score on that measure. Leapfrog recommends always checking a hospital’s scores on handwashing, blood infections and patient falls.

▪ Each score the hospital receives is also listed with the best and worst score on that measure by any hospital, as well as the average score for hospitals on that measure.

More information on how to use the Hospital Safety Grades can be found at hospitalsafetygrade.org/your-hospitals-safety-grade/how-to-use-the-grade.

What can you do to stay safe in the hospital?

Regardless of a hospital’s safety grade, Leapfrog recommends the following tips to stay safe if you need to receive care at a hospital:

▪ Bring someone with you when you arrive and when you’re discharged. If possible, also try to have someone visit every day of your stay. The extra person can make sure that even when you’re groggy or tired, there’s someone there to be alert, ask questions and advocate for your care. Hospitals might have patient advocates on staff who can also provide these resources.

▪ Be alert and say something. During your stay, you or your companion should take notes to keep track of what’s happening, including if hospital staff and your care team are washing their hands.

▪ Know your medications. Leapfrog recommends keeping track of which medications you’re taking during your stay and why you’re taking them. Don’t be afraid to ask your care team for this information. You can also ask that your care team cross-checks your name with your medications before giving them to you in order to prevent possible mix-ups.

This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 6:02 AM with the headline "NC claims top spot for nation’s safest hospitals. See how Triangle hospitals rank."

Korie Dean

The News & Observer

919-335-8507

Korie Dean covers higher education in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer, where she is also part of the state government and politics team. She is a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC-Chapel Hill and a lifelong North Carolinian.