See which Kansas City area hospitals are the best and worst at preventing errors
When you go to a hospital, you want to heal from whatever you came in for, not develop new medical complications. Unfortunately, at some Kansas City area hospitals, you could go home with more than your discharge papers.
Preventable safety issues like falls, infections after surgery and miscommunications with staff killed 160,000 people in 2018 in the U.S., according to health care watchdog nonprofit The Leapfrog Group.
Since 2012, the organization has published the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, which gives hospitals a letter grade showing how well they do on patient safety.
Twice a year, hospitals are graded in five categories: infections; problems with surgery; safety problems; practices to prevent errors; and the competency of hospital staff. While grades range from A to F, the Kansas City area did not have any D or F facilities.
The data comes from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Leapfrog’s own survey. The rankings does not include specialty medical centers, like children’s’ and VA hospitals.
For more information on your hospital’s performance in other aspects, like patient satisfaction and treatment effectiveness, search the facility’s name on the Medicare website’s Care Compare.
Here are the Kansas City area hospitals with the best and worst patient safety ratings for spring 2024, according to Leapfrog Group. See detailed grades for all area hospitals on the organization’s website.
C grades
University Health Truman Medical Center
University Health Truman Medical Center had below average scores for four out of six infection metrics, including blood infections, surgical site infections after colon surgery, sepsis after surgery and the worst possible score for urinary tract infections. The hospital scored a C in fall 2023 and a B in spring 2023, after two years of straight C’s.
The University of Kansas Hospital
The University of Kansas Hospital performed below average in half of the infection metrics, including preventing C. diff infections, urinary tract infections and surgical site infections after colon surgery. The hospital scored a C in fall 2023 and a B in spring 2023.
University Health Lakewood Medical Center
University Health Lakewood Medical Center scored below average in four out of seven safety problem metrics: dangerous bedsores, patient falls and injuries, dangerous blood clots and harmful events — such as complications in surgery and childbirth. The hospital received a B in fall 2023 and a C in spring 2023.
Belton Regional Medical Center
Belton Regional Medical Center scored below average on various patient-staff interaction metrics, including responsiveness of hospital staff and communication with doctors and nurses. The hospital received B’s in both the fall and spring of 2023.
A grades
Centerpoint Medical Center
St. Joseph Medical Center
Providence Medical Center
St. Mary’s Medical Center
Menorah Medical Center
Saint Luke’s South Hospital
Lee’s Summit Medical Center
Olathe Medical Center
Do you have more questions about safety in the Kansas City area? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
