Hospitals ranked for safety by Leapfrog
AdventHealth Orlando and Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center are among several hospitals in Orange, Seminole, Lake, Volusia, and Osceola counties to receive As as their Fall 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.
The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit and healthcare safety watchdog, ranks hospitals biannually from A to F based on over 30 measures of patient safety. The letter grades reflect how well hospitals prevent medical errors, accidents, injuries, and patient infections. This year’s grades were released Nov. 10.
Nationwide, 32% of hospitals received an A grade, including many Central Florida hospitals.
HCA Healthcare Orlando Division
Central Florida Regional Hospital and Oviedo Medical Center received Bs, while Osceola Regional Medical Center and Poinciana Medical Center got Cs.
Poinciana Medical Center received five points out of 100 for its staffing of specially trained doctors to care for Intensive Care Unit patients; this was the lowest ranking given to any hospital, though multiple hospitals got this ranking. The average hospital received 62.82 points out of 100. LeapFrog stated that in an ideal situation, hospitals would staff physicians with training in critical care medicine for these patients.
AdventHealth Central Florida
AdventHealth Central Florida, the region’s largest healthcare network, received mostly As. AdventHealth Kissimmee and AdventHealth Ocala got Bs. AdventHealth Lake Wales and AdventHealth Heart of Florida got Cs.
AdventHealth Heart of Florida and AdventHealth Lake Wales scored below average on five out of six safety issues related to doctors, nurses and other staff.
AdventHealth Heart of Florida also received five out of 100 points for its staffing of specially trained doctors in the ICU, the lowest ranking that was given out to hospitals.
UF Health The Villages Hospital
UF Health The Villages Hospital got a C grade.
The hospital grades took into account the higher risk given the older population that lives in The Villages, according to Leapfrog.
Of note, the hospital had more cases of dangerous objects being left in a patient’s body than average. Hospitals are supposed to have procedures in place to avoid this, such as counting surgical tools in the operating room, Leapfrog’s website said.
Orlando Health
Orlando Health received mostly As, with the exception of Orlando Health Health Central Hospital and Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital, which both got Bs. Orlando Health Health Central Hospital’s score was the same in Spring 2021, whereas Orlando Health St. Cloud improved since its last ranking, when it got a C.