Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco again earns an "A", the top score for patient safety for more than 10 straight years.
Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco hospital is being recognized as among the safest in the nation for patient care, according to The Leapfrog Group’s biannual Hospital Safety Grades report.
Leapfrog reviews hospital clinical data and assigns hospitals grades based on approximately two dozen safety measures that analyze patient injuries, medical and medication errors, and infections. Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco hospital is recognized with an “A” grade for patient safety.
“Keeping our patients safe is our top priority every day,” said Shasta Adessi, senior vice president and area manager of Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco. “Our hospital has earned an “A” grade for safety for more than 10 years, and to win it again this year is a tribute to the hard work our doctors, nurses and staff.”
This fall, 14 Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California received A grades from Leapfrog, including: Antioch, Fresno, Manteca, Modesto, Oakland, Roseville, San Francisco, San Jose, San Leandro, San Rafael, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, South Sacramento, and South San Francisco.
“Our comprehensive approach leads to higher quality of care, improved experiences, and better health outcomes,” said Edward Kao, MD, physician in chief of the Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center. “This safety score highlights the excellent work our care teams provide every day.”
The Leapfrog Group assigns letter grades to nearly 3,000 hospitals throughout the United States. The grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring.
More than 60% of Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals received an A grade. In California overall, only about 30% of the state’s hospitals earned this top grade.
The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits, released its Hospital Safety Grades after examining publicly available data on patient injuries, medical and medication errors, and infections at U.S. hospitals. The report includes data collected by national health care organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Scores are calculated based on more than two dozen publicly available measures, and hospitals are then assigned A, B, C, D or F grades for their safety records. The grades are released as a free resource to help patients and their families make informed health care decisions.
Kaiser Permanente is one of America’s leading integrated health care providers and serves 12.5 million members. Nationally, 24 of the 39 Kaiser Permanente hospitals that were eligible for a grade, more than 60% percent, received a Leapfrog Safety A grade. In contrast, approximately 30% of the nation’s hospitals received an A rating.
For more information and a complete list of the hospital safety grades, visit Leapfrog.