Hospitals improve their patient experience and infection scores
The latest Safety Grades shows the first improvement since fall 2023, but the measures are still far from pre-pandemic levels.
Photo: Monty Rakusen/Getty Images
New Leapfrog Group findings show patient perspectives on hospital care indicate significant signs of improvement since the fall 2023 Safety Grades.
The spring 2024 Hospital Safety Grades show preventable healthcare-associated infections have decreased after unprecedented rates during the height of the pandemic, according to Leapfrog, an independent nonprofit patient safety organization.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Leapfrog assigns a letter grade from A to F to nearly 3,000 general hospitals on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections.
The Leapfrog Group also reports performance by state and, for the first time, by metro area based on the highest percentage of "A" hospitals. Rankings were limited to areas with populations of 500,000 or greater with at least six graded hospitals.
For spring 2024, Utah ranks number one among states for the second cycle in a row. Other high ranking states, in order, are Virginia, New Jersey, Colorado and Rhode Island.
The top three metro areas are Allentown, Pennsylvania, Winston-Salem, North Carolina and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Patient experience is measured through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services uses to publicly report patients' perspectives of hospital care.
Of the over 30 measures used to generate Hospital Safety Grades, Leapfrog reports on five patient experience measures that have a direct impact on patient safety outcomes: Nurse communication; doctor communication; hospital staff responsiveness; communication about medicines; and discharge information.
Since Leapfrog reported Hospital Safety Grades in the fall of 2022, when HAI rates were at their highest peak since 2016, 92% of hospitals have improved performance on at least one of three dangerous preventable infections. Average HAI scores have declined dramatically:
Central line-associated bloodstream infections decreased by 34%; catheter-associated urinary tract infections decreased by 30%; and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, decreased by 30%.
THE LARGER TREND
Since the start of the pandemic, patient experience has worsened. This spring has shown the first sign of improvement, with all measures significantly improving since fall 2023, but the measures are still far from pre-pandemic levels, Leapfrog said.
According to a summary of peer-reviewed research published in BMJ, an estimated 250,000 people a year die of preventable errors and infections in hospitals, which makes patient safety problems the third leading cause of death in the United States, according to Leapfrog.
Leapfrog was founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers as an independent national nonprofit organization.
ON THE RECORD
"Patient experience is very difficult to influence without delivering better care, so these findings are encouraging," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. "We were also pleased to see the decrease in preventable infections, which cause terrible suffering and sometimes death. When we look at these positive trends, we see lives saved – and that is gratifying."
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org
