How safe are Fort Worth hospitals? Find out which two hospitals got A’s from a watchdog group
Medical City Fort Worth and Medical City Alliance were the only two hospitals in Fort Worth that received A’s for safety standards in recent ratings of U.S. hospitals by a national watchdog group.
Fall 2022 Hospital Safety Grades were released Wednesday by the Leapfrog Group. The nonprofit organization bi-annually assigns letter grades to general hospitals across the country by measuring errors, accidents, injuries and infections, and systems in place to prevent harm.
Texas ranked 14th in the nation, an upgrade from the spring, when the state ranked 22nd in the country.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is assigned whether the hospital voluntarily reports data to Leapfrog or not. The majority of data used to calculate the safety grade comes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Hospitals can provide additional information about safety measures through the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey.
In Texas, 230 hospitals received safety grades. Leapfrog graded 34% of Texas hospitals an A, compared with 32% in the spring. Notably, St. David’s Medical Center in Austin was one of only 22 hospitals across the U.S. to have received straight A’s for every safety grade during the past 10 years.
Here’s how Fort Worth hospitals stacked up, and what that means for you and others seeking health care in the city.
How safe are Fort Worth hospitals?
Medical City Fort Worth continued its high safety grade streak and earned an A, after being the only hospital in Fort Worth to get an A in the spring.
“I applaud the hospital leadership and workforce for their strong commitment to safety and transparency,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, in a statement. “An ‘A’ Safety Grade is a sign that hospitals are continuously evaluating their performance so that they can best protect patients. Your hospital teams should be extremely proud of their dedication and achievement.”
Medical City Alliance received an A after a B in the spring that broke an A streak it had since at least 2019.
“Independent analysis of our quality and safety information, such as the audit recently performed by The Leapfrog Group, ensures we are honoring our commitment to providing high-quality, safe and compassionate care. The Medical City Healthcare Patient Promise calls for excellence always: every action, every patient, every time,” spokesperson Matt Eiserloh told the Star-Telegram. “Our recent ‘A’ rating affirms we are surpassing patient expectations. While an ‘A’ rating is certainly our goal, we never intend to stop there. Rather, we use this data to continuously improve, ensuring our patient promise is not only honored today, but well into the future as well.”
According to the Fall 2022 Hospital Safety Grades, only one Fort Worth hospital received a B grade.
John Peter Smith Hospital received another B after one in the spring. In 2021, the hospital had received an A and a B.
These four Fort Worth hospitals received a C safety grade by Leapfrog:
Texas Health Alliance was graded a C for the seventh consecutive time. The hospital had received an A in the spring of 2019.
Texas Health Fort Worth also received a C on safety for the seventh time in a row, after getting a B in spring 2019.
Texas Health Southwest Fort Worth received its fifth consecutive C grade after receiving two B grades and an A in the past few years.
Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center - Fort Worth received a C grade based on the national rankings, after being the only Fort Worth hospital to receive a D in the spring. In the past three years, the hospital received B and C grades.
Texas Health spokesperson Kimberly Walton previously said “patient safety and quality are the highest priority” and that they may have received these grades because they chose not to participate in the Leapfrog Hospital Survey.
“Several years ago, Leapfrog changed their reporting methodology from being dependent on publicly available data to requesting additional information from hospitals, which is not independently verified. We did not participate in their additional requests, as this activity does not provide direct value to the patients we serve,” Walton said. “Because this grading system includes both participating and non-participating entities, it highlights the variability in Leapfrog’s methodology and the grades it assigns. For the most recent reporting cycle, Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford did provide the additional data and their score improved two letter grades from a D to a B. Thus, we are evaluating participating more fully in the future as part of our commitment to being as transparent as possible. We continue to be highly focused on initiatives that directly impact patient care, from Reliable Care Blueprinting to other patient safety initiatives that are part of our journey in becoming a high reliability organization.”
Baylor spokesperson Matthew Olivolo said in the spring: “We are committed to providing safe, high-quality care to every patient who enters our doors, and we closely measure our performance across a variety of metrics that we believe are strong indicators of safe, high-quality care. There are a number of factors that influence a hospital’s grade from Leapfrog. One significant factor is participation in Leapfrog’s proprietary survey — which our hospital does not participate in at this time. Nothing is more important than being a trusted provider to those we serve.”
How were the hospital safety grades calculated?
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses more than 30 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Leapfrog Hospital Survey. Leapfrog says those measures produce a letter grade that indicates a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors. Nearly 3,000 general acute-care hospitals across the nation receive a safety grade twice annually, in the fall and spring.
The five main scoring categories that measure a hospital’s safety are:
Infection: This measures the rate of different types of infections at the hospital, including MRSA infection, C. diff infection, blood infection, urinary tract infection, surgical site infection after colon surgery and sepsis after surgery.
Problems with surgery: This measures how many times a dangerous object was left inside the patient’s body, a surgical wound split open, a patient died from a treatable complication or there was blood leakage, kidney injury, a serious breathing problem or accidental cuts and tears.
Safety problems: This score reflects complications and harmful events including bed sores, falls and injuries, collapsed lung, blood clot and air or gas bubble in the blood.
Practices to prevent errors: Hospitals can earn up to 100 points for practices such as ordering medication through a computer, safely administering medication, handwashing, communicating with patients about medicines and discharge, and working with other staff members to prevent errors.
Doctors, nurses and hospital staff: This score reflects how healthcare workers make patient safety a priority at the hospital. That encompasses effective leaders that prevent errors, enough qualified nurses, specially trained doctors working in the ICU, communication with doctors and nurses and hospital staff responsiveness.
How do I choose a safe hospital?
While data for A hospitals shows they do a good job preventing errors, you should never refuse care in an emergency because of a hospital’s safety grade. When you have time to research, use hospitalsafetygrade.org to check whether a hospital scores well on these medical care basics:
Handwashing: Does your hospital have a handwashing policy to ensure all staff members are washing their hands before and after patient contact?
Infection in the blood: Hospital patients may be given a central line, a tube inserted into the body to deliver medication and other treatments. Patients with a central line are at high risk for developing a dangerous infection in the blood. Is your hospital showing a low number on this measure?
Patient falls: What is your hospital doing to ensure you don’t suffer an added injury from a fall while in the hospital?
How can you stay safe in the hospital?
Here’s how to prepare for your hospital stay:
Medication safety: Bring all the medicines you’re on, and let the hospital know about any allergies to medication. Know which conditions the medicines are treating, and what they look and taste like. Bring someone with you who is aware of the medications you’re on. Let your doctor or nurse know if you have an unexpected response to the medication you take at the hospital.
Preventing falls: Use your call button for help walking to the restroom or around the hall. Wear nonslip socks or shoes that fit well. Lower bed height and side rails.
Leapfrog recommends taking these steps during your hospital stay:
Be prepared. Before your visit, write down any questions you may have.
Ask questions when you’re unsure of what you’re being told, or when something unexpected happens.
Be alert and say something. During your hospital stay, you should take notes to keep track of what’s happening.
If you see an error made in the hospital, you should:
Immediately speak with someone, like a bedside nurse. Some hospitals have a system for reporting errors, like a suggestion box or hotline.
Discuss the issue in a respectful yet assertive manner. A health care employee should investigate or resolve the issue.
Be clear that you expect to hear back about the issue, and that you would like to see something done to address the error.
If you don’t receive an answer after being discharged, contact the hospital’s customer service, patient advocacy or patient and family relations department.
