Four Midlands hospitals get an ‘A’ in latest safety grades, another is lowest rated in SC

Four Midlands hospitals received the highest mark possible in the safety grades released by a medical watchdog group Tuesday. Most area hospitals saw their scores improve since the last ratings were released.

Both Prisma Health Baptist, in downtown Columbia, and Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge, near the Lexington County line, were given A grades, and are ranked among the safest hospitals in South Carolina, according to the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.

The A was an improvement for Prisma Health Baptist, which received a B in the fall and spring ratings in 2021.

Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge has consistently been one of the highest rated hospitals in the Midlands, receiving the highest grade in the past six 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 one B and three Cs for the spring. Those include:

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

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

▪ MUHA Columbia Medical Center Downtown, formerly Providence Health, repeated its score from the fall ranking of C

▪ MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Northeast, formerly Providence Health Northeast, repeated its score from the fall ranking of C

Two other hospitals in the Midlands received an A, while one that had an F in the fall received a higher grade in the current ranking.

▪ McCleod Health Clarendon in Manning repeated its score from the fall ranking of A

▪ Prisma Health Tuomey saw its grade rise two letters from C in the fall ranking to A

▪ Newberry County Memorial Hospital saw its grade rise one letter from C in the fall ranking to B

▪ MUSC Health Kershaw Medical Center saw its grade rise one letter from C in the fall ranking to B

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

Overall in South Carolina, of the 51 hospitals that were ranked, 21 received a letter A. That’s an improvement from 15 As in the fall rankings.

No hospitals in the Palmetto State received an F in the spring grades. The D given to the Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties was the lowest mark dispensed, and even that was an improvement from the fall.

Nationally, South Carolina ranked 13th among all states, with more than 41% of its hospitals scoring an A rating. That was a significant increase from the fall (29%), when the Palmetto State was ranked 25th in the nation.

Seven Prisma hospitals across South Carolina earned A ratings in the spring report, prompting Prisma Health’s chief quality executive, Kristin Vondrak, to say, “I am especially grateful for everyone’s ongoing commitment to quality, safety and service and being the difference.”

The bigger picture

Neighboring North Carolina (59.8%) was the top-rated state in the U.S., while there was a four-way tie for lowest grade among North Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., as none had a hospital with an A grade.

“The health care workforce has faced unprecedented levels of pressure during the pandemic, and as a result, patients’ experience with their care appears to have suffered,” Leapfrog Group President and CEO Leah Binder said in a news release. “We commend the workforce for their heroic efforts these past few years and now strongly urge hospital leadership to recommit to improved care — from communication to responsiveness — and get back on track with patient safety outcomes.”

Leapfrog graded more than 2,900 hospitals nationwide this spring, and 33% earned an A, 24% earned a B, 36% 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 160,000 people die every year from hospital errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

That’s “a significant improvement from 2016, when researchers estimated 205,000 avoidable deaths,” Leapfrog officials said.

“Despite a general decrease in patient experience ratings, spring Grades continue to show significant variation in safety performance across U.S. hospitals,” Binder said. “This variability is a constant reminder that the public must have access to information on which hospitals are safer so patients can make the best decision for themselves and their loved ones.”

Leapfrog said 50,215 lives could be saved every year if all hospitals performed at the level of A graded hospitals. But even hospitals that scored an A can make improvements to save lives.

“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 of Raleigh previously reported.

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

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 May 10, 2022 at 9:21 AM with the headline "Four Midlands hospitals get an ‘A’ in latest safety grades, another is lowest rated in SC."

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