Published on ROI.com

More than half of New Jersey’s 67 participating hospitals received A grades for safety in the latest Leapfrog Group report for Fall 2018.

The biannual report tracks how well hospitals do, following metrics for safety by the Leapfrog Group.

The report judges the hospital on procedures, ranging from surgical to giving out the right medication.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the New Jersey rankings:

• A hospitals: 38 or 56.7 percent (16 more than spring);
• B hospitals: 15 or 23.9 percent (8 fewer);
• C hospitals: 11 or 16.4 percent (7 fewer);
• D hospitals: 1 or 1.5 percent (1 more);
• F hospitals: 1 or 1.5 percent (same number).

One-third of hospitals increased their grades overall, but some jumped up by two letter grades. Those include St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, Saint Clare’s Denville Hospital, Saint Clare’s Dover Hospital and Saint Michael’s Medical Center.

Five hospitals went down in their grade.

“We’re proud of the high number of hospitals in New Jersey that voluntarily submit their quality and safety data to Leapfrog, and then also use that information to continually improve patient care,” Linda Schwimmer, CEO and president of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, and a board member of Leapfrog, said.

“We encourage all hospitals to use the survey to improve their performance. Our experience shows that hospitals committed to creating a culture of safety and quality perform well. That’s the common denominator.”

Two hospitals performed poorly: University Hospital in Newark received a D and East Orange General Hospital received an F.

Hospitals that retained their “A” grades since the spring include:

• Bayshore Medical Center
• Capital Health – Hopewell
• CarePoint Health – Bayonne
• Clara Maass Medical Center
• Hackensack University Medical Center
• Holy Name Medical Center
• Jefferson Health – Stratford
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center
• Monmouth Medical Center
• Morristown Medical Center
• Overlook Medical Center
• Riverview Medical Center
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center
• Shore Medical Center
• The Valley Hospital
• University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro (now Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center)
• Virtua Health – Marlton
• Virtua Health – Voorhees

From “B” to “A”:

• AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center City Campus
• AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center Mainland Campus
• Chilton Medical Center
• Community Medical Center of Toms River
• Inspira Health Network – Woodbury
• Jefferson Health – Cherry Hill
• Jersey City Medical Center
• JFK Medical Center
• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
• Ocean Medical Center
• Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Perth Amboy
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital- Somerset
• Southern Ocean Medical Center
• St. Mary’s General Hospital

From “C” to “B”:

• Cooper University Hospital
• Hackettstown Regional Medical Center
• Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County
• Raritan Bay Medical Center at Old Bridge

A few did drop in grades:

From “A” to “B”:

• Newton Medical Center
• Jefferson Health—Washington Township
• Inspira Health Network—Vineland
• Holy Name Medical Center

From “B” to “C”:

• Capital Health Regional Medical Center

ROI Leapfrog Safety Ratings Fall 2018 by ROI-NJ on Scribd