Maine hospitals rank No. 3 nationally for hospital safety

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By Staff

Maine rose seven spots and now ranks third in the top 10 states with the safest hospitals, according to the Leapfrog Group’s spring 2019 Hospital Safety Grades.

Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. The methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent and the results are free to the public. In its Hospital Safety Grades report, The Leapfrog Group assigns an ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.

In the latest published rankings, Leapfrog Group ranked Maine as the third safest state for hospital safety, with 50% of the 16 hospitals evaluated being assigned an “A” grade. By comparison, in Leapfrog’s fall 2018 report, Maine ranked 10th with 40% of the hospitals receiving an “A” grade.

Rankings of Maine hospitals

Here are the eight hospitals that received “A” grades in the spring rankings:

Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital in Ellsworth
Cary Medical Center in Caribou
Maine General Medical Center in Augusta
Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville
Northern Light Mercy Hospital in Portland
Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston
SMHC Biddeford Medical Center in Biddeford
York Hospital in York.

Seven hospitals received “B” grades:

Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor
Northern Light AR Gould Hospital in Presque Isle
St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor
Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick
Maine Medical Center in Portland
St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston
Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.

One hospital received a “C” grade:

Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport.

MaineGeneral: One of ‘America’s Best Hospitals for Patient Experience’

In addition to earning the top grade of ‘A’ in the spring 2019 Leapfrog Safety Grades released Tuesday, MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta earned a 2019 Women’s Choice Award as one of “America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Patient Experience,” according to MaineGeneral Health President and CEO Chuck Hays.

The ‘A’ grade from The Leapfrog Group is the hospital’s third top grade in the past five Leapfrog grading reports. “All MaineGeneral employees strive to give patients the best experience,” Hays said. “We’ve made great strides and will continue to seek to provide the highest level of care, safety and experience.”

MaineGeneral was the only hospital in Maine to receive the 2019 Women’s Choice Award as one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Patient Experience. The Women’s Choice Award reviews the performance of more than 5,000 hospitals based on what matters most to women when selecting a hospital for herself and her family. Hospitals are rated the best in the nation for patient experience, meaning they excel in the patient’s willingness to recommend, doctor communications, staff help, cleanliness, providing recovery information, explanation of medications, communication by nurses and peacefulness of room at night.

The hospital also earned a 2019 Women’s Choice Award for America’s Best Hospitals for Cancer Care and for America’s Best Hospitals for Orthopedics.

Hays also announced Tuesday that MaineGeneral is a recipient of the Healthgrades 2019 Outstanding Patient Experience Award, which is given to the top 10% of hospitals in the nation for patient satisfaction. MaineGeneral was also named with five-star ratings by Healthgrades for outcomes “Better than Expected” in treatment of heart attack, pneumonia, pancreatitis, sepsis and pulmonary embolism.

For the sixth time in a row, Northern Light Mercy Hospital has received an ‘A’ grade for meeting the highest safety standards in the country.

“It takes a coordinated team to consistently attain this high level of performance, and I would like to thank all the amazing team members at Mercy who make patient safety their top priority every day,” said Charlie Therrien, president of Mercy Hospital.

Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford also was awarded an ‘A’ from The Leapfrog Group’s spring 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade..

“This is the third time in a row that SMHC has earned the ‘A’ grade and that is because of the dedication our providers and staff have to ensuring the safest level of care for our patients,” said Dr. Nate Wilson, vice president of quality and safety. “We put patient safety first, and our continued ‘A’ grade reflects that.”