Mon Health scores a B, Ruby a C in latest Leapfrog hospital safety grades

Nov. 7—MORGANTOWN — After taking a dip last spring, Mon Health Medical Center's Leapfrog Hosptial Safety Grade returned to a B this fall. WVU Medicine's J.W. Ruby Memorial Hosptial held steady at a C.

The Leapfrog Group is a safety-based nonprofit formed by major employers and health care groups and issues its safety grades twice a year, in spring and fall. It released the fall grades this week.

The Leapfrog Group assigns a letter grade to nearly 3, 000 general hospitals based on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections. "The latest grades show hospitals reducing health care-acquired infections post-pandemic after significant increases in infection rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, " it said in its release announcing the grades.

This cycle, nearly 30 % of hospitals earned an A, 24 % earned a B, 39 % earned a C, 7 % earned a D and less than 1 % earned an F, Leapfrog said.

We reahed out to Mon Health and Ruby for comments on the grades. Schedule conflicts didn't allow for a phone conversation with Allison Suttle, chief quality officer of the WVU Health System, but she offered an emailed statement.

"Here at WVU Medicine, " she said, "we choose not to participate in Leapfrog ranking surveys. The data used in these surveys is self-reported and is supplemented with secondary sources when not reported. This leads to the use of data that can be up to three years old for facilities that do not choose to participate. We feel the data that is collected excludes important measures, such as mortality, readmissions, and length of stay. Here at WVU Medicine, we pride ourselves in our commitment to providing high-quality, state-of-the-art care to our patients."

Mon Health commented on Leapfrog grades in 2019, 2021 and 2022, but did not respond this time.

The new grades are the first to reflect hospital performance post-pandemic, Leapfrog said. Nationally, hospitals significantly reduced three HAIs (health care-acquired infections—Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI)—after CLABSI, MRSA and CAUTI reached a five-year high during the pandemic.

Along with ratings on HAIs, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade also includes patient experience measures that evidence suggests are closely associated with patient safety issues and are grouped into five areas: problems with surgery ; safety problems ; practices to prevent errors ; and doctors, nurses & hospital staff. The scores are calculated using patient responses to a national and standardized patient survey following a hospital visit.

Leapfrog also does a national ranking based on the percentage of A-grade hospitals in each state. West Virginia ranked 46th, with 4.5 % of surveyed hospitals getting As. Utah was tops, with 51.9 %. Vermont, Wyoming, Delaware, North Dakota and D.C. all tied for 4th, with no hospitals scoring As.

In the area of infections, Mon Health scored below average for MRSA and C.diff, and above average for sepsis. It scored above average for death from serious treatable complications. It scored right at average for harmful events and dangerous bed sores, and above average for patient falls and injuries.

In safety practices, Mon Health received perfect scores in safe medication administration, handwashing and staff working together to prevent errors.

In the "doctors, nurses & staff " category, it received a perfect score in hospital leadership to prevent errors. Oddly, it received the worst hospital's score for nursing and bedside care (reflecting staffing levels) but above average and nearly the nation's best for communication with nurses (reflecting patient comments).

Ruby scored below average for MRSA and C.diff, and the best hospital score for sepsis. It scored slightly worse than average for death from serious treatable complications. It scored above average for harmful events, and below average for dangerous bed sores and patient falls and injuries.

In safety practices, Ruby received below average scores in safe medication administration and handwashing but did not provide information on staff working together to prevent errors.

And in the "doctors, nurses & staff " category, Ruby did not supply Leapfrog with information on hospital leadership to prevent errors or for nursing and bedside care. It scored above average for communication with nurses.

Mon Health Medical Center scored an A grade in fall 2019, B in spring 2020, C in fall 2020, A in spring 2021, Bs in fall 2021 and both times in 2022, then fell to a C last spring before bouncing back to a B this time.

Since spring 2020, Ruby has scored consistent Cs, expect a D in spring 2022.

Here's how other hospitals in the Vandalia Health System fared (Mon Health is part of Vandalia): Stonewall Jackson Memorial, C ; CAMC General, D ; CAMC Teays Valley, D ; Davis Medical Center, D.

And here's how other WVU Medicine hospitals in West Virginia fared: Camden Clark Medical Center, B ; Reynolds Memorial, C ; Wheeling Hospital, C ; Berkeley Medical Center, D ; Princeton Community, D ; Thomas Memorial, D ; United Hospital Center, D.

WVU Medicine's Garrett Regional Medical Center in Maryland scored an A. Uniontown Hospital in Pennsylvania scored a D.

Email: dbeard @dominionpost.com.