A growing number of Illinois hospitals are getting an A rating for safety, according to a new report, although about a dozen hospitals in the state earned a D rating for their efforts.
In Illinois, 32 hospitals earned an A rating, up from 24 hospitals in the spring, according to the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit founded by large employers and other organizations that purchase health insurance. Illinois now ranks 23rd in the nation for patient safety, up from 30th in the spring.
Illinois hospitals with top marks this fall include University of Chicago Medical Center; Rush University Medical Center; six Endeavor Health hospitals in Evanston, Highland Park, Glenview, Elmhurst, Naperville and Arlington Heights; and seven Northwestern Medicine hospitals in Huntley, DeKalb, Chicago, Winfield, Geneva, Lake Forest and McHenry.
The University of Chicago Medical Center, Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital and Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital have earned consecutive A’s since 2012.
“It’s about patient safety… did you leave the hospital with something that you didn’t bring: preventable infections, falls, outcomes that you saw in the hospital,” said Dr. Tom Spiegel, vice president and chief health system quality officer at UChicago. Medicine. “That’s where we excel, at preventing them, and that’s why we continue to maintain these…A direct.”
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All but one of Endeavor’s hospitals, Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital in Chicago, received an A rating from Leapfrog this fall. Endeavor, formerly known as NorthShore University HealthSystem, has expanded in recent years, adding hospitals in Naperville, Elmhurst, Chicago and Arlington Heights. This growth has given Endeavor the opportunity to look at practices across all of its hospitals and share the best ones across the system, said Dr. Lakshmi Halasyamani, Endeavor’s chief clinical officer.
“Data never lies,” Halasyamani said. “So you have to look at your results and ask yourself: ‘Is there a way to do better?’ »
One Illinois hospital earned an F: HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital in Decatur. Attempts to reach HSHS for comment were unsuccessful.
Statewide, 12 hospitals earned a D rating, including five in the Chicago area: West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and Chicago hospitals Weiss Memorial Hospital, Roseland Community Hospital, South Shore Hospital and Community First Medical Center.
A representative for South Shore declined to comment on the hospital memo, and attempts to reach West Suburban, Weiss and Community First for comment were unsuccessful.
Roseland CEO Tim Egan noted in an email that another review group, the Lown Institute, gave Roseland higher grades than Leapfrog. The Lown Institute has a different methodology than Leapfrog, focusing on equity, value and outcomes, and most recently gave Roseland a B grade.
Several other Chicago-area hospitals have significantly improved their ratings since the spring, including Jackson Park Hospital in Chicago, Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville and Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, all of which earned an A rating. against C in the spring.
Nine Advocate Health Care hospitals improved their ratings this fall compared to the spring.
The Leapfrog Group rates the nation’s hospitals twice a year, based on 22 safety measures, including hand hygiene, falls and trauma, and mortality rates among surgical patients with serious complications but treatable. Leapfrog gathers its data from the federal government and a survey it sends to hospitals.
Doctors and health care leaders are urging consumers to use ratings and reviews as a single piece of information when selecting care. They should also consider doctors and facilities that are in-network with their health insurance plans and recommendations from their trusted doctors.
Leapfrog is one of several organizations that evaluate hospitals each year, often with different methodologies and results.
“Patient safety is so important and there are many other measures as to why you should move from one hospital to another,” said Cheryl Larson, president and CEO of the Midwest Business Group on Health, which helps facilitate patient safety. investigation into Leapfrog hospitals in Illinois. “This is one of them, and it’s an important issue.”
Hospitals that get high marks from rating groups often tout them in their advertising, hoping to gain an advantage as they compete with other Chicago-area hospitals for patients and dollars .
Halasyamani said she would like to see Chicago-area hospitals work together to increase security at each facility.
“At some level we are competing on security when we really should be collaborating on security,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if every hospital in the Chicago area got an A?” … For these communities, it would mean that they all have access to care that is as safe as possible.
In this latest round of Leapfrog ratings, Utah ranked No. 1 in the nation, with the highest percentage of hospitals earning an A rating. No hospitals earned an A rating in Iowa , North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont.
