Redmond gets a B, FMC a C on new safety report cards

Cartersville and Gordon hospitals each get an A.

Redmond Regional Medical Center received a B and Floyd Medical Center scored a C on the most recent Leapfrog Hospital Safety report card.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety report examines how hospitals and other health care providers protect patient infections, injuries, accidents and errors.

The organization estimates that more than 200,000 people die every year from preventable errors in hospitals, making it the third leading cause of death in the U.S. behind cancer and heart disease.

Hospitals are graded in several broad areas including practices to prevent errors, safety problems, problems with surgery, infections and staffing related issues. Each of those broad categories are scored in between four and seven sub-categories.

Regionally, Gordon Hospital and Cartersville Medical Center each scored an A in both the spring and fall reporting periods last year. In fact, it was the seventh consecutive A grade for Gordon and fourth A grade in a row for Cartersville.

Redmond dropped from an A last fall to the B this spring while Floyd with the C it received last fall, following a B last spring.

The survey is not intended for the evaluation of the overall quality of health care at any hospital.

“We’re really specifically focused on safety,” said Erica Mobley, director of operations for The Leapfrog Group. “Safety really matters whether you’re going in for open heart surgery or you’re going into the ER to get stitches.”

Redmond got above average scores in 19 of the 27 different reporting areas, average marks in three and below average scores in five.

“Redmond Regional Medical Center is proud to be ranked among the top tier of high quality hospitals nationwide that received a B or better,” said Andrea Pitts, director of marketing and public relations at Redmond. “We are always looking for opportunities to improve and provide the best possible care.”

FMC got above average marks in 14 categories, average marks two and below average marks in 11.

“Patient safety is a top priority at Floyd. We strive daily to improve care,” said Dr. Sheila Bennett, executive vice president and chief of patient services at FMC. “We encourage community members to look at more than one rating system. There are many companies who rate healthcare quality, and each have their own method of evaluating quality that can lead to very different results.”

The biggest differences between the two Rome hospitals is that Redmond made more above average marks in the infections and practices to prevent errors categories. FMC scored slightly higher in the problems with surgeries category.

Leapfrog has been issuing the safety report cards twice a year since 2012.