Single Midlands hospital gets an ‘A’ in latest safety grades, another given an ‘F’

Only one Midlands hospital received the highest mark possible in the safety grades released by a medical watchdog group Wednesday.

Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge was given an A, and continues to be ranked as one of the safest hospitals in South Carolina, according to the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. The Columbia hospital also received the highest grade in the past five rating reports from the Leapfrog Group, which issues biannual safety rankings.

Since 2012, the Leapfrog Group has published Hospital Safety Scores twice a year — once in the spring and once during the fall — to create transparency in the U.S. health system. The rating is focused on “errors, accidents, injuries and infections.”

Based on this criteria, other Columbia-Lexington-area hospitals received two Bs and three Cs for the fall. Those include:

▪ Lexington Medical Center, which repeated its score from the spring ranking of B

▪ Prisma Health Baptist in Columbia repeated its score from the spring ranking of B

▪ Prisma Health Richland repeated its score from the spring ranking of C

▪ Providence Health repeated its score from the spring ranking of C

▪ Providence Health Northeast was graded for the first time in more than three years and received a ranking of C

In August, both Providence hospitals were bought by the Medical University of South Carolina and rebranded as MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown and MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Northeast, respectively.

No other hospitals in the Midlands received an A, while one that had a D in the fall received a lower grade in the current ranking.

▪ Newberry County Memorial Hospital saw its grade rise one letter from D in the spring to C

▪ MUSC Health Kershaw Medical Center repeated its score from the spring ranking of C

▪ Prisma Health Tuomey repeated its score from the spring ranking of C

▪ Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties saw its grade one letter drop from D in the spring to F

Just outside of the Midlands, one hospital received an A grade in the ranking. McCleod Health Clarendon in Manning got the top mark again after being rated an A in the spring.

“In the midst of a pandemic, I am happy to report that many of our campuses saw an improvement in their overall performance as compared to the prior reporting period,” Prisma Health’s chief quality executive Kristin Vondrak said in a news release. “Due to Leapfrog’s wide scoring ranges, these improvements may not have been enough to move to the next letter grade.”

Six Prisma hospitals across South Carolina earned A ratings in the fall report. While not every Prisma hospital got the top grade, the health care system’s efforts were recognized by Leapfrog.

“I thank the leadership and workforce of Prisma Health hospitals for their commitment to prioritizing patients and their safety, especially during these trying times,” Leapfrog president and CEO Leah Binder said.

Overall in South Carolina, of the 51 hospitals that were ranked, 15 received a letter A. That’s a reduction in As, in spite of more hospitals appearing in the fall rankings, opposed to spring when 47 Palmetto State hospitals were graded.

The Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties was the only hospital in South Carolina to receive an F in the fall grades, after no hospitals got that score in the spring.

Nationally, South Carolina ranked 25th among all states, with more than 29% of its hospitals scoring an A rating. That was a drop from the spring (34%), when the Palmetto State was ranked 19th in the nation.

Virginia (56.2%) was the top-rated state, while there was a three-way tie for lowest grade among North Dakota, Delaware, and Washington D.C., as none had a hospital with an A grade.

“As the pandemic continues, we all have heightened awareness of the importance of hospitals in our communities and in our lives,” Binder said in a news release. “It is critical that all hospitals put patient safety first. Now we have more information on more hospitals than ever before, so people can protect themselves and their families.”

Leapfrog graded more than 2,900 hospitals nationwide this fall, and 32% earned an A, 26% earned a B, 35% a C, 7% a D and less than 1% scored an F, according to its website.

The grades are based on safety data and rate how hospitals have “checks in place to prevent mistakes, and ensure strong lines of communication between hospital staff, patients, and families,” according to Leapfrog, which estimated about 250,000 people die every year from hospital errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

Leapfrog said more than 1,000 people nationwide will die today because of a preventable hospital error.

“Leapfrog advises the public never to reject emergency treatment based on a safety score, but to consult with a doctor about the best hospital for planned, elective procedures,” the News & Observer previously reported.

But Leapfrog’s study shows that patients at ‘D’ and ‘F’ hospitals face about a greater risk of dying than those at hospitals graded A.

“The goal of the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is to reduce the over 200,000 yearly deaths from hospital errors and injuries by publicly recognizing safety and exposing harm,” Leapfrog said on its website. “It’s up to everyone to make sure that patient safety is the number one priority at every hospital across the United States.”

Making the grade

The Leapfrog safety grade is divided into two domains: Process/Structural Measures and Outcome Measures.

• Process Measures represent how often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition or procedure. For example, “Responsiveness of hospital staff” looks at patients’ feedback on how long it takes for a staff member to respond when they request help. Structural Measures represent the environment in which patients receive care. For example, “Doctors order medications through a computer” represents whether a hospital uses a special computerized system to prevent errors when prescribing medications.
• Outcome Measures represent what happens to a patient while receiving care. For example, “Dangerous object left in patient’s body” measures how many times a patient undergoing surgery had a dangerous foreign object, like a sponge or tool, left in his or her body.

The Process Measures include:

▪ Computerized Physician Order Entry

▪ Bar Code Medication Administration

▪ ICU Physician Staffing

▪ Leadership Structures and Systems

▪ Culture Measurement, Feedback & Intervention

▪ Nursing Workforce

▪ Hand Hygiene

▪ Nurse Communication

▪ Doctor Communication

▪ Staff Responsiveness

▪ Communication about Medicines

▪ Discharge Information

▪ Foreign Object Retained

▪ Air Embolism

▪ Falls and Trauma

▪ CLABSI

▪ CAUTI

▪ SSI: Colon

▪ MRSA

▪ C. Diff.

▪ Pressure Ulcer Rate

▪ Death Rate among Surgical Inpatients with Serious Treatable Conditions

▪ Iatrogenic Pneumothorax Rate

▪ Postoperative Respiratory Failure Rate

▪ Perioperative PE/DVT Rate

▪ Postoperative Wound Dehiscence Rate

▪ Unrecognized Abdominopelvic Accidental Puncture/Laceration Rate

SOURCE: Leapfrog Medical Group

This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 11:53 AM.

Noah Feit

The State

803-771-8435

Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999. Support my work with a digital subscription