Two Midlands hospitals are above the rest when it comes to safety in new report card

Two Midlands hospitals stand out in safety grades released by a medical watchdog group Monday.

Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge continues to be ranked as one of the safest hospitals in South Carolina, according to the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.

Joining it is Lexington Medical Center, which was rated among the safest hospitals as well. The Columbia and Lexington hospitals received the highest grade 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, Lexington Medical Center and Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge were the only Midlands hospitals awarded an A.

▪ Lexington Medical Center, improved its grade from B in the spring to A

▪ Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge, repeated its score from the spring ranking of A

Other Columbia-Lexington-area hospitals received one B and two Cs for the fall. Those include:

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

▪ Prisma Health Baptist in Columbia improved its grade from C in the spring to B

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

No other hospitals in the Midlands received an A, while one that previously had a B grade in the spring dropped, and another was given an F.

▪ Newberry County Memorial Hospital, which was last graded in 2019, saw its most recent score drop from B to D

▪ KershawHealth 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 dropped one letter grade, from D in the spring to F

Along with its A grade, Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge earned the distinction of being named a 2020 Leapfrog Top General Hospital because it achieved the highest standards of excellence in quality and safety.

Fewer than 6% of all eligible hospitals across the country receive this designation, according Prisma Health spokeswoman Tammie Epps. To qualify, hospitals must:

▪ Receive an A for the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade

▪ Achieve Leapfrog Standards for computerized provider order entry, ICU Physician Staffing, and Never Events Policy

▪ Report on all (applicable) measures and achieve Leapfrog standards on at least 60% of those measures

“This team has demonstrated a continued commitment to providing the best possible care as they have fought through the pandemic, and they should be proud of this achievement,” Prisma Health Baptist and Baptist Parkridge CEO Michael Bundy said in a news release. “Not only did they achieve Magnet status earlier this year but now they have received this national honor for quality. Our team is always focused on their patients and being recognized for their excellence and commitment is a wonderful accomplishment.”

Overall in South Carolina, of the 47 hospitals that were ranked, 16 received a letter A. In addition to Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties, MUSC Health’s Marion Medical Center received an F in the fall grades.

Nationally, South Carolina ranked 22^nd among all states, with about 34 percent of its hospitals scoring an A rating. That was a decline from the spring when about 37 percent received the top score, leaving the Palmetto State ranked 18^th. Maine (62.5%) was again the top-rated state, while there was a three-way tie for lowest grade among Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, as none had a hospital with an A grade.

“We see in the news every day the extraordinary courage of clinicians and staff caring for patients stricken by COVID-19. What’s less apparent—yet equally laudable—are the untold efforts behind the scenes to protect patients. Hospitals’ commitment to the fundamentals have saved lives too, like preventing infection, ensuring universal hand hygiene, and double and triple checking everything to avoid errors,” Leapfrog president and CEO Leah Binder said in a news release. “We are grateful for the heroic efforts of hospitals across the Nation and applaud their efforts that are protecting our families.”

Leapfrog graded more than 2,600 hospitals nationwide, and 34% earned an A, 24% percent 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 represent “on how well hospitals protect patients from errors, accidents, injuries, and infections,” according to Leapfrog, which estimated as many as 440,000 people die every year from hospital errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

“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 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. If all the other hospitals improved their patient safety to the equivalent of ‘A’ hospitals, more than 50,000 lives could be saved, according to the study.

This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 8:26 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