Six hospitals have received straight A's since the Leapfrog safety report card debuted in 2012.
TRENTON -- One-third of New Jersey hospitals dropped a grade or more in the latest national report card judging how well they kept their patients safe by protecting them from infections, bed sores, and harmful errors during their stay.
New Jersey ranked 22nd in the nation - a steep drop from fifth place last year, and the lowest the state has ever scored in the nine reports issued since 2012 by the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit health care watchdog organization.
But comparing to prior reports would not be fair because some of the criteria changed, and Leapfrog has started grading on a tougher curve, said Linda Schwimmer, president and CEO of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, a Leapfrog-affiliated organization.
New Jersey ranks 5th in hospital safety
Hospitals are now judged on patient surveys grading their interaction and communication with nurses and doctors, and the incidence of life-threatening infections such as medically resistant staph infections, Schwimmer said.
Of the 67 hospitals that participated:
- 23 received an A, 9 fewer than the last round;
- 16 received a B, 1 more than last round;
- 26 earned a C, 6 more than last round;
- Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center is Secaucus earned the only D;
- Saint Michael's Medical Center in Newark received the only F.
- The AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center City Campus and AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center Mainland Campus showed the most improvement by going from C's to A's.
Hospitals that received straight A's every time are Englewood Hospital and Medical Center; Hackensack University Medical Center; Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston; Jersey City Medical Center; and Saint Clare's Hospital in Denville.
Created with the input of national medical experts, Leapfrog's report card remains a powerful tool for educating the public, prodding poor-perfoming hospitals to improve and rewarding high-achievers, Schwimmer said.
"There will always be more work to be done in our area to provide the best care for the families living in our communities," she said. "While we are proud to work with all of our hospitals and recognize the commitment they are making to improve care, we are particularly concerned about the 'D' and 'F' hospitals in our state: Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center and Saint Michael's Medical Center, respectively."
"We hope that the release of these scores will...galvanize their leaders to make some serious system-wide changes to improve the quality of patient care."
Officials from Saint Michael's, a nearly 150-year-old hospital acquired out of bankruptcy by Prime Healthcare Services in March, previously have said they do not participate in the survey because their computer technology is limited. They have also criticized Leapfrog for relying on "outdated" information. Leapfrog bases the hospitals's grades on publicly available data.
"Given the long duration and uncertainty of the regulatory review for the sale of Saint Micheal's Medical Center to Prime Healthcare Services, the hospital has not had the resources needed to participate in the Leapfrog survey," said Bruno Tedeschi, spokesman for St. Michael's said Sunday.
"However, in about a week, the ownership of the hospital will be turned over to Prime Healthcare, which has long emphasized the seriousness and importance of quality and safety monitoring and understands the value of top-notch quality-of-care reporting. Prime is fully committed to participating in the Leapfrog survey in the future and having Saint Michael's scores truly reflect the high quality of care that we provide for our patients."
Meadowlands declined from a C last fall. The hospital, which has suffered from financial difficulty and endured several management shakeups, has earned A's, B's and C's in earlier reports.
A separate study commissioned by Leapfrog estimated 33,000 lives could be saved in the country if all hospitals "performed as safely" as A hospitals.
Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which administers the Hospital Safety Score, said hospitals can save lives through their commitment to patient safety.
"Those are the lives of your neighbors, your friends, and your family, protected at hospitals that don't give up on the quest to be safe," said Leah Binder, Leapfrog's CEO. "Ultimately, we want all hospitals to be A-level, because our communities deserve no less."
Vermont topped the list, with five of its six hospitals earning A's, and Wyoming ranked at the bottom, with none of its six hospitals earning A's, according to Leapfrog.
See the full report at hospitalsafetyscore.org
Correction: Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville received its first C in this report. An earlier version of this story said the hospital's grade had never slipped below an A. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.