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St. Vincent’s Medical Center Awarded Spring 2023 ‘A’ Hospital Safety Grade From Leapfrog Group

May 03, 2023

St. Vincent’s received an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit upholding the standard of patient safety in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. This national distinction celebrates St. Vincent’s achievements in prioritizing patient safety by protecting patients from preventable harm and errors. The new grades reflect performance primarily during the height of the pandemic.

Hartford HealthCare Fairfield Region President William M. Jennings said, “Excellence is one of the five key pillars of our strategy — and I would maintain is chief among them. To be recognized by the leading independent arbiter of hospital quality and safety with an ‘A’ gives everyone in our community the rest assurance that St. Vincent’s Medical Center is objectively achieving its strategy of Excellence! I cannot thank the hospital and medical staff enough for all they’ve done for our patients.”

“Achieving an ‘A’ grade is the result of commitment every day by all of our colleagues to high reliability and living our leadership behaviors. It signifies our commitment to our patients and our community to ensure safety is our top priority. Through continuous improvement, we build and sustain clinical excellence,” added Ryan O’Connell, MD, St. Vincent’s vice president of quality and safety.

St. Vincent’s joins additional Hartford HealthCare hospitals, including Hartford Hospital, Windham Hospital, MidState Medical Center, and Backus Hospital, in earning an “A” Safety Grade from Leapfrog.

The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization, assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” grade to general hospitals across the country based on over 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and infections, as well as systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm.

“This new update of Hospital Safety Grades shows that, at the national level, we saw deterioration in patient safety with the pandemic,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “But this hospital received an ‘A’ despite those challenges. I congratulate all the leaders, staff, volunteers and clinicians who together made that possible.”

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring.

To see St. Vincent’s full grade details and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org and follow The Leapfrog Group on Twitter, Facebook and via its newsletter.