See which states earned an 'A' and those that got an 'F' in Leapfrog's new patient safety grades

Rhode Island, Hawaii and Idaho took the highest marks for patient safety in Leapfrog's new grades, while Massachusetts and Virginia rounded out the top five list of states based on the percentage of "A" hospitals. 

Hospitals that earned F grades are located in California, Washington, D.C., Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York. 

Maryland and Washington, D.C. metro area showed notable improvement. They have now moved out of the bottom five with three A hospitals: Howard County General Hospital, Northwest Hospital and The Johns Hopkins Hospital. 

Washington. D.C., which the group said tends to rank low on the state list, saw its first A-grade hospital, Sibley Memorial Hospital, since spring 2013. 

"In looking at Maryland over the course of these six months, it's clear there's been an effort to improve since they were first graded in fall 2017," Leapfrog CEO Leah Binder said in a statement. "Not only are there now three 'A' hospitals, but six additional hospitals received a 'B' grade, having previously received a 'C' or lower." She continued, "In the case of Washington, D.C., we're encouraged residents have an 'A' hospital in the area for the first time in five years." 

There were no A hospitals in Alaska, Delaware or North Dakota, Leapfrog said. 

Much like the state of Maryland received safety grades for the first time in the fall of 2017 after being in the bottom five of the state rankings, Leapfrog's report showed notable promise and improvement with five hospitals scoring an A for the first time after having rated an F at one point. 

Those hospitals were: Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, California, Whittier Hospital Medical Center in Whittier, California, Meadows Regional Medical Center in Vidalia, Georgia, Daviess Community Hospital in Washington, Indiana and Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in McComb.

Leapfrog uses 27 measures to calculate a patient safety score, which then translated to a letter grade, for nearly 2,500 hospitals. Those measures are categorized as one of the following: process measures represent how often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition or procedure; structural measures are related to the environment in which care is given; or outcome measures represent what happens to a patient when receiving care.

While some controversy may still surround the methodologies used in Leapfrog and other rankings, hospital leaders would do well to take a public and proactive approach to raising a poor grade as patients are watching.

Twitter: @BethJSanborn
Email the writer: beth.sanborn@himssmedia.com