Overlake Hospital earns A grade for safety

Published 8:30 am Monday, May 9, 2016

New hospital safety scores were announced recently by the Leapfrog Group, which assign letter grades to hospitals nationwide to provide the most complete picture of patient safety in the U.S. health care system.

Overlake Medical Center has received an A for three years running, ranking among the safest hospitals in the United States.

Overlake was one of only three area hospitals to earn the grade and one of 153 hospitals nationwide that had scored an A for the last three years.

“We are so honored and proud to receive this ‘A’ grade from The Leapfrog Group for a third year in a row,” said Overlake CEO J. Michael Marsh. “Patient safety is our hospital’s top priority and this award demonstrates our commitment and consistency.”

Developed under the guidance of Leapfrog’s blue ribbon expert panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 30 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign letter grades to more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

For the first time, the Hospital Safety Score includes five measures of patient-reported experience with the hospital as well as two of the most common infections, C.diff and MRSA.

For more information, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org.