Published by Susan K. Livio in NJ Spotlight

Patients are less likely to develop an infection, get the wrong medication or fall inside a New Jersey hospital than they were a year ago, according to the latest national report card released on Wednesday that ranked the state 15th best for protecting patients from harm.

Of the 68 hospitals evaluated by the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit health care watchdog organization, 27 earned an A and 20 earned a B, up by two and five hospitals respectively since the last report issued in the fall.

There were 7 fewer C’s, and just three D’s, the same number since the last report, Leapfrog said.

“Since we launched the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade in 2012, our goal was to alert consumers to the hazards involved in a hospital stay and help them choose the safest option,” said Leah Binder, Leapfrog’s president and CEO.

“So far we have been pleased with the increase in public awareness and the hospitals’ commitment to solving” the problem of preventable medical errors, which kill 1,000 people a day in America, Binder said. “We need to accelerate the pace of change because too many people are still getting harmed and killed.”

New Jersey rose from 22nd to 15th best from a year ago, based on the number of hospitals that earned an A.

Maine, Hawaii, Oregon, Wisconsin and Idaho ranked in the top five; North Dakota, Washington D.C., Delaware and Alaska were tied for 47th or last place, for earning no A’s, according to the report.

The grade is based on 30 measures recommended by medical experts which include infection rates, wound care, adequate nurse and physician staffing and patient surveys about their communication and interaction with hospital staff.

Since the report card began in 2012, Leapfrog said infections and complications from surgery and other treatment has dropped by 21 percent.

Linda Schwimmer, president and CEO of the Health Care Quality Institute of New Jersey, which released the report with Leapfrog, said hospitals across the state have made operational changes to pull up their grades.

“We see again and again that hospitals that adopt the Leapfrog survey as a quality improvement tool and truly make patient safety a priority — from the CEO and down to every level of their institutions — consistently see improvements and high grades,” Schwimmer said.

Slipping

Five hospitals dropped at least one grade from last fall:

Bayonne Medical Center fell to a C;

Memorial Hospital to a C;

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital – Rahway to a C; and

Both Atlanticare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City and Pomona fell two grades to a C.

These hospitals improved their grades from the fall:

* Capital Health Medical Center in Hopewell, from C to  B;

* CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, from C to A;

* Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains, from a C to a B;

* Hackensack University Medical Center at Pascack Valley in Westwood, from D to B;

* Hackensack University Medical Center – Mountainside in Montclair, from C to B;

* Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, C to  B;

* JFK Medical Center in Edison, C to  B;

* Ocean Medical Center in Brick, B to A

* Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, C to B;

* Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, C to B;

* Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital – Hamilton, C to B;

* St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville, C to B;

* Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, C to A.

CentraState CEO John T. Gribbon credited the hospital’s $20 million investment in technology for helping boost its safety grade to an A, “placing it in the top 30 percent of hospitals nationally.”

Innovations include, “Bar coding on medications, electronic medical records and physician order entry, which allows doctors to enter patient orders directly through a computer,” Gribbon said.

These hospitals received the top grade in the spring report for protecting patients from harm:

* Christ Hospital in Jersey City;

* CentraState Medical Center in Freehold;

* Englewood Hospital and Medical Center;

* Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck;

* Inspira Medical Center in Elmer;

* Inspira Medical Center in Vineland;

* Inspira Medical Center in Woodbury;

* Jersey City Medical Center;

* JFK Medical Center in Edison;

* Kennedy University Hospital – Cherry Hill;

* Kennedy University Hospital – Stratford;

* Kennedy University Hospital – Washington Township;

* Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch;

* Morristown Medical Center;

* Newton Medical Center;

* Ocean Medical Center, Brick;

* Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank;

* Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital – Somerset in Somerville;

* Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston;

* St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick;

* Shore medical Center in Somers Point;

* Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin;

* Valley Hospital in Ridgewood;

* University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro;

* Virtua Hospital in Marlton;

* Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly;

* Virtua Hospital in Voorhees.

Near the top

These hospitals earned a B:

* Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May Courthouse;

* Capital Health Medical Center in Hopewell;

* Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton;

* Hoboken University Medical Center;

* Chilton Medical Center in Pompton Plains;

* Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville;

* Hackensack University Medical Center;

* Hackensack University Medical Center – Mountainside in Montclair;

* Hackensack University Medical Center at Pascack Valley in Westwood;

* Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington;

* Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune;

* Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden;

* Overlook Medical Center in Summit;

* Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge;

* Raritan Bay Medical Center Perth Amboy;

* Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick;

* Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton;

* Saint Clare’s Hospital in Denville;

* Saint Clare’s Hospital in Dover;

* St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton.

These hospitals got a grade of C:

* Atlanticare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City;

* Atlanticare Regional Medical Center in Pomona;

* Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel;

* Bayonne Medical Center;

* Community Medical Center of Toms River;

* Cooper University Health Care in Camden;

* Hackensack University Medical Center Palisades in North Bergen;

* Hackettstown Regional Medical Center;

* Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro;

* Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus;

* Monmouth Medical Center – Southern Campus in Lakewood;

* Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark;

* Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Rahway;

* St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson;

* St. Joseph’s Wayne Hospital;

* St. Luke’s Warren Campus, Phillipsburg;

* St. Mary’s General Hospital in Passaic;

* Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth.

These hospitals received a D:

* Memorial Hospital of Salem County in Salem;

* Saint Michael’s Medical Center in Newark;

* University Hospital in Newark.

No New Jersey hospital received a failing grade — even the four which did not voluntarily submit patient data to participate. They are the Atlanticare Regional Medical Center facilities in Atlantic City and Pomona, East Orange General Hospital, and St. Luke’s – Warren campus in Phillipsburg.

“Hospitals do not choose whether or not they receive a grade. If there is enough publicly available data, they will receive a grade,” said Amanda Melillo, chief of staff for the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, which released the report with Leapfrog.

Only 10 of the 2,639 hospitals studied in the nation  got an F, according to the report.

There are only 63 out of nearly 2,700 hospitals in America that received straight A’s since Leapfrog began crunching the data in 2012, and three of them are in New Jersey.

Here are the honor roll hospitals when it comes to safety:

There are many “best hospital” and “best doctor” lists available on the internet touting the most cutting-edge treatment offered by the most highly-trained experts.

The corporate leaders who founded Leapfrog 17 years ago said they wanted to measure something more specific: which hospitals keep patients safe and protect them from getting hurt or acquiring a new illness while under a facility’s care?

The Leapfrog Group commissioned a panel of public health experts to develop the safety report card in the wake of a landmark 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine which revealed hospital errors kill about 98,000 patients a year.

Last year, Leapfrog made some changes to some of the areas measured by the report card, adding, for instance, the results of random patient surveys on the quality of communication with physicians and other hospital employees. For this reason, comparing New Jersey’s national standing from before 2016 with rankings from the past year would not be accurate, according to the quality institute.

Some hospital executives have criticized the grades because they claim the data are too old to reflect the latest improvements they made. Public health experts have called it a one of many useful tools to encourage consumers to do some digging before their doctor admits them to the hospital.

“The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade presents data that’s easy for consumers, employers and purchasers to understand and to use in their health care decision-making,” Schwimmer said.