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Lexington HeraldLeader
How safe are Central KY hospitals for patients? See latest grades from watchdog report
By Meredith Howard,
10 days ago
A national watchdog group recently scored some Central Kentucky hospitals below average for safety metrics, including infection, patient falls and harmful events.
The Leapfrog Group is a nonprofit organization that provides ratings and safety data for hospitals, and it recently released grades for nearly 3,000 short-term, acute care hospitals across the country. The organization updates grades twice each year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
“The goal is to help consumers protect themselves and their families from the errors, injuries, accidents or infections that they might experience during a hospital stay,” Alex Campione, program analyst for Leapfrog hospital safety grades, said in an interview with the Herald-Leader.
The spring 2024 grades report a reversal of an “alarming trend” of increasing health care-associated infections across the U.S., which were at a six-year high for the fall 2023 ratings.
Those infections have now returned to pre-pandemic levels , Campione said, and another safety measure also improved nationally this spring.
Patient experience metrics, which assess quality of nurse communication, doctor communication, hospital staff responsiveness, communication about medicine and discharge information, significantly improved in the spring 2024 grades across the U.S., though they remain “far from pre-pandemic levels,” according to Leapfrog.
“I actually think the patient experience measures are the most important,” Campione said.
Patient experience metrics show first-hand whether patients are getting enough time to discuss concerns with their doctors and whether they’re experiencing any neglect, Campione added.
Out of seven Central Kentucky hospitals, two saw improved performance, while none received lower grades than in fall 2023. Georgetown Community Hospital was among 2% across the U.S. to improve their performance by two grades, jumping from a C to an A.
Two local hospitals received As, while four received Bs and one got a C grade.
Leapfrog uses 22 metrics to evaluate a safety grade, including seven that are self-reported through the organization’s survey. All seven local hospitals responded to Leapfrog’s survey.
“The survey is an extensive process, it’s a commitment that hospitals have to make to complete the survey. It’s not short,” Campione said.
Three-fourths of hospitals that are graded complete Leapfrog’s survey, Campione continued. Grades for the hospitals that don’t respond are calculated by using past data or a model that estimates how they might have performed if they did submit the survey. Federal, publicly reported data is available for all of the hospitals and is used in the grading, and self-reported data goes through a multi-layer verification process to ensure accuracy.
Here’s how Central Kentucky hospitals performed in Leapfrog’s grading, plus how to interpret ratings and which areas should be most heavily considered.
“Our hospital is committed to providing the best in patient care,” Baptist Health Lexington President Chris Roty said in an emailed statement. “This national recognition reflects our team’s dedication to continuously improve and maintain high achievement in patient safety.”
The spring 2024 grades mark Baptist Health Lexington’s 13th consecutive A grade.
“The quality of care and safety of our patients is one of our most important priorities. We have – and will continue to – invest substantial resources to improve these areas, and that is clearly reflected in the updated Leapfrog ratings. The academic medical system of UK HealthCare – UK Chandler Hospital, UK Good Samaritan Hospital, and Kentucky Children’s Hospital – provides high-acuity care for Kentuckians with the most complex health needs. We are also proud to be ranked the top hospital in Kentucky by U.S. News for eight years running, with three of our specialties (cancer, OB/GYN, and ENT) receiving a Top 50 program ranking as well,” University of Kentucky HealthCare spokesperson Allison Perry wrote in an emailed statement.
Here are the areas in which Saint Joseph East scored below average this spring:
Sepsis infection after surgery
Accidental cuts and tears
Harmful events
Dangerous bed sores
Collapsed lungs
Communication about medicines
Communication about discharge
Specially trained doctors care for intensive care unit patients (Saint Joseph East received a 5 out of 100 for this metric, the lowest score given to any hospital.)
A score was not available for surgical site infection after colon surgery. An unavailable score does not denote a lack of safety.
“Patient safety is our top priority. There are multiple hospital rating agencies, each with different ratings criteria. Organizations such as Healthgrades and PINC AI have consistently recognized Saint Joseph Hospital and Saint Joseph East for quality care. Saint Joseph Hospital was again recognized by Healthgrades as one of the Top 100 Hospitals in the nation, and Saint Joseph East was recently named among the Top 100 Hospitals by PINC AI, as reported by Fortune Magazine. The Leapfrog organization has some very specific requirements that heavily influence the overall score. We are laser focused on those requirements. We want the A-level care identified by other organizations to match with an A score with this reporting method,” Dr. Dan Goulson, chief medical officer of CHI Saint Joseph Health, wrote in an emailed statement.
Specially trained doctors care for ICU patients (Georgetown Community Hospital received a 5 out of 100 for this metric, the lowest score given to any hospital.)
Scores were unavailable for five categories, including MRSA infection, infection in the blood, death from serious treatable complications and others. An unavailable score does not denote a lack of safety.
“Georgetown Community Hospital’s (GCH) top priority has always been the safety and well-being of our patients, and this ‘A’ rating reaffirms our commitment to delivering exceptional care. This achievement would not have been possible without the collaborative effort of our outstanding team, who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care to the communities we serve.
“Scott County and the surrounding areas can feel confident that GCH continues to provide quality patient centered care. From emergency room care to advanced outpatient surgical services, Georgetown Community Hospital continues to redefine what quality healthcare looks like as a community-based facility. The Leapfrog Group assesses hospitals of all sizes in areas of preventing medical errors, reducing infections and ensuring proper safety measures are in place. Georgetown Community Hospital is proud to be one of eight hospitals [in] the state of Kentucky to receive an ‘A’, and only one of two hospitals in central Kentucky,” Cliff Wilson III, CEO of Georgetown Community Hospital and market president for Lifepoint in Central Kentucky, wrote in an emailed statement.
Infection in the blood (Clark Regional Medical Center received the lowest score given to any hospital in this category.)
Infection in the urinary tract
Collapsed lung
Nursing and bedside care for patients
Specially trained doctors care for ICU patients (Clark Regional Medical Center received a 5 out of 100 for this metric, the lowest score given to any hospital.)
Scores were unavailable for MRSA infection, surgical site infection after colon surgery and death from serious treatable complications. Unavailable scores do not denote a lack of safety.
“The Leapfrog Group reported its Spring 2024 Hospital Safety Grade, in which Clark Regional Medical Center (CRMC) earned [a] B. We are pleased to be among only a few hospitals in the state that earned a B rating or higher and continue to focus on protecting patients from preventable harm and errors.
“This recognition highlights the hard work and dedication of our staff in prioritizing patient safety and delivering the best possible care. We are committed to continuing our efforts to enhance our safety measures and quality of care even further. While we value these public ranking systems and certainly want to celebrate our successes, it is essential to remember that each uses different methodology and data collection periods,” Matt Smith, CEO of Clark Regional Medical Center, wrote in an emailed statement.
How are hospital grades calculated?
Safety grades are calculated using up to 22 national safety measures from the Leapfrog survey, U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other data sources. The full methodology is available online and is peer-reviewed and published by the Journal of Patient Safety.
Grades are composed 50% by process and structural measures and 50% by outcome measures. The scoring scales differ by the chosen measure.
In the spring 2024 grades, 29.13% of hospitals nationwide received As, while 25.9% got Bs, 37.2% received Cs, 7.4% received Ds and less than 1% were given Fs.
Kentucky ranked 35th in the U.S. for the highest percentage of hospitals receiving A grades, up from 37th in the fall.
How should you use these scores?
Leapfrog emphasizes you should not refuse emergency care based on hospital ratings. The group intends the scores to be used when planning things like childbirth, surgery referrals or chronic illness treatment.
Leapfrog’s hand washing grade measures how well hospitals use five “best practices,” including:
“Monitoring, including monitoring proper hand hygiene technique
Feedback, including evaluation and use of compliance data
Training and Education, including demonstrations of technique
Infrastructure, including hand sanitizer dispensers
Culture, including leadership buy-in”
You should also consider how far off your hospital was from the average for any given standard. When evaluating a hospital, you can see the highest and lowest scores given, which helps in weighing a value. The “below average” category can include hospitals that scored 0.01 points under goal, along with facilities with the lowest possible score.
For hospitals that responded to Leapfrog’s survey, there’s often information available about which areas the hospital has improved in and which areas are not going in the right direction.
A hospital being ungraded does not denote a lack of safety. Ratings are often unavailable for facilities that decline to self-report, as well as smaller providers, children’s hospitals, surgical centers and critical access hospitals.
Where can you find more hospital ratings?
Leapfrog allows you to search for hospitals by name, location or state. There’s an online search tool where you can find information about more hospitals.
Do you have a question about health care in Central Kentucky for our service journalism team? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out our Know your Kentucky survey below or email ask@herald-leader.com.
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