Maine is the 'state of the decade' for hospital quality, watchdog group says

File Photo / Maureen Milliken Bridgton Hospital and five other facilities in Maine are recognized among the 23 top rural hospitals nationwide.

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By William Hall

Six rural Maine hospitals top the country’s for safety and quality, according to new evaluations by a health care watchdog, the Leapfrog Group — and the state now has another reason to boast, too.

Maine is the “Top State of the Decade for Patient Safety,” the Washington, D.C.-based group announced Tuesday at its virtual annual meeting.

The first-ever award recognizes Maine hospitals for scoring in Leapfrog’s top grading tier more often than those in any other state. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, issued twice annually, awards grades of “A” through “F” to hospitals based on how well they prevent errors, accidents, injuries and infections.

Maine has ranked No. 1 in the percentage of "A" hospitals more times than any other state, Leapfrog said. The state has ranked first among states in nine of 20 grade updates, and has been ranked in the top five among states for another seven grade cycles.

In the most recent evaluation, released last month, 11 of 17 eligible Maine hospitals got an “A.” A total of 2,900 general hospitals across the U.S. were graded.

The A-listers also compete in a separate evaluation to determine the Leapfrog Top Hospitals. This year, Leapfrog chose 149 hospitals nationwide, in four categories, for that distinction. Of the 23 hospitals recognized as the Top Rural Hospitals, the greatest number are from Maine:

Bridgton Hospital
Houlton Regional Hospital
LincolnHealth, in Damariscotta
Northern Light Blue Hill Hospital
Pen Bay Medical Center, in Rockport
Rumford Hospital.

Besides the rural honorees, no other Maine hospitals made the roster. Across New England, no other state made the top rural list, and only Massachusetts hospitals received as many awards in any category as hospitals in Maine did.

In 2020, five rural Maine hospitals — including three of this year's honorees, LincolnHealth, Northern Light Blue Hill and Pen Bay — were named tops. In 2019, only Waldo County General Hospital, in Belfast, made the list.

The Leapfrog Group, founded in 2000, began the Top Hospital awards in 2006.

Commenting on Maine’s “Top State of the Decade” award, Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder, a native of the state, said, “No other state came close to Maine's achievement when we looked at the data. Receiving the highest percentage of 'A' graded hospitals many times over for a decade shows that patients are the priority in Maine. Thousands of lives would be saved every year if all states performed as well as Maine does."

About the Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, the Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.