Improving on Previous Year, 16 Hospitals in Washington State Earn ‘A’ for Safety
SEATTLE, November 15, 2024 – The Washington Health Alliance (WHA), the independent purchaser-led health care collaborative in the state, and the Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit focused on safety, released on Friday the fall hospital safety grades.
With a marked improvement over 2023, efforts across the state’s health system have pushed the statewide ranking for hospitals with “A” scores up eight places to 17th nationally.
The fall 2024 Hospital Safety Grades show hospitals in Washington and across the country are making strides in patient safety across several performance measures including improvements in healthcare-associated infections, hand hygiene and medication safety.
“Preventable medical errors happen across the country far too often, including in our own community,” said Dr. Sharon Eloranta, the Washington Health Alliance’s Medical Director. “This round of the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade shows improvements in patient safety across the country, which is promising. The employers and purchasers in our coalition believe we all benefit from hospital transparency, and we can work together to continue to reduce preventable harm and advance patient safety.”
In Washington, 48 hospitals were graded, and 16 earned an “A,” six earned a “B,” 25 earned a “C,” and one earned a “D.” Continuing for another year, no Washington Hospitals failed in this safety assessment.
Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle has again received an “A” for safety, reserving its top mark it first received more than a decade ago.
As the Washington health system continues to adjust to emerging issues, 10 hospitals saw improvements in their respective safety grades:
• St. Anne Hospital in Burien – Improved from a “B” to an “A”
• MultiCare Auburn Medical Center in Auburn – Improved from a “C” to a “B”
• St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood – Improved from a “C” to an “A”
• Swedish Edmonds Campus – Improved from a “C” to a “B”
• Swedish Ballard Campus – Improved from a “B” to an “A”
• MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup – Improved from a “C” to a “B”
• MultiCare Valley Hospital in Spokane Valley – Improved from a “C” to an “A”
• MultiCare Capital Medical Center in Olympia – Improved from a “C” to an “A”
• Swedish Issaquah Campus – Improved from a “C” to an “A”
• MultiCare Covington Medical Center – Improved from a “B” to an “A”
In the most recent grading cycle, we saw an increase in the number of hospitals that submitted surveys and a corresponding increase in some grades, including among some Swedish Health Services facilities.
“The progress we’ve witnessed at the hospitals in Washington is encouraging and worthy of applause. However, there is still much work to be done to continue making gains in patient safety,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We commend the hospitals in Washington that are clearly focusing on prioritizing patients and their safety—an effort that takes absolute dedication from hospital staff at all levels.”
With hospital care remaining a key component to ensuring the health and well-being of Washington residents, WHA and its partners continue to watch safety trends including rates of hospital-based infections.
Hospitals in Washington performed well C. difficile infections with 83.3% of hospitals passing (National Average: 83.7%), and MRSA infections with 63.3% passing (National Average: 38.6%). However, we continue to watch Washington hospitals’ performance central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) with 35.5% passing (National Average: 36.9%), and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) with 41.9% passing (National Average: 47.7%).
Washington hospitals continue to need to make improvements on medication safety for outpatient procedures with 14.3% passing (National Average: 50.4%), and the safe Surgery preop checklist for outpatient rate, which was 35.7% (National Average: 82.7%).
As hospitals across Washington continue to face a host of challenges from staffing pressures to fiscal constraints, WHA remains committed to working with our partners across our state to improve upon patient safety.
The Leapfrog Group has a more than 10-year history of assigning letter grades to general hospitals throughout the U.S., based on a hospital’s ability to prevent medical errors and harm to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Hospital Safety Grade results are based on more than 30 national performance measures and are updated each fall and spring.
Detailed hospital performance information, including patient experience and safety measures, as well as grades for individual hospitals searchable by states and localities is available at HospitalSafetyGrade.org.