JONESBORO, Ark. – St. Bernards Medical Center has consecutively earned the highest letter grade, “A,”from the independent nonprofit organization, The Leapfrog Group, based on safety measures practiced at the hospital.
These letter grades, known as Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, range from the best grade, “A,” to the lowest grade, “F.” They look at publicly available measures of safety, including inpatient injuries, infections and medical and medication errors. In total, nearly 3,000 general acute-care hospitals nationwide participate in Leapfrog’s biannual findings.
Kasey Holder, M.D., St. Bernards Medical Center Vice President of Medical Affairs and Medical Director for Quality & Safety, said the “A” grade highlights St. Bernards’ commitment to the highest quality in patient safety.
“We have always prioritized in-house quality and safety processes as well as consistent improvement of patient outcomes,” Dr. Holder said. “An ‘A’ grade from The Leapfrog Group simply reaffirms our efforts to prevent infections and eliminate preventable patient harm.”
St. Bernards Medical Center Administrator Michael Givens stressed how St. Bernards earned the “A” grade during a time of high patient volumes.
“We had our highest census ever at St. Bernards in January 2022,” Givens said, “and our team still adhered to and improved upon our safety goals. I’m proud how they met challenging circumstanceswithout compromising our most important duties as a healthcare provider.”
As quick background, Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades often receive recognition as the go-to standard for many national news outlets, using more than 30 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS), an internal survey and information from supplemental data sources. Using a peer-reviewed grading system, Leapfrog operates under the guidance of an Expert Panel for its scoring methodology. This panel iscomprised of eight patient safety experts from Harvard, Penn, Stanford, UC-Davis, University Hospitals, Vanderbilt and the CDC.
For detailed hospital scores as well as information on The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade itself, visit https://hospitalsafetygrade.org.
St. Bernards Healthcare, a non-profit healthcare system based in Northeast Arkansas, serves as the corporate parent of a number of healthcare entities, including the largest hospital in the region, St. Bernards Medical Center, a 440-bed acute care hospital that serves as a regional referral center for 23 counties in Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri. It is the only Level III Trauma Center in the region, houses the only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the eastern part of Arkansas and has served as the trusted provider of comprehensive, compassionate healthcare services for nearly 122 years. For more information, please visit stbernards.info or call the St. Bernards Healthline at 870.207.7300.
Press Release – St. Bernards
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