It wasn’t quite a leap in safety improvement at Greenwood Leflore Hospital, but it was close.
The Greenwood hospital’s grade improved to a “C” in the latest national survey of health care safety and, according to hospital CEO Jason Studley, was within a whisker of a “B” rating.
The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization that rates the quality and safety in U.S. hospitals, gave the Greenwood hospital higher marks than it did in the spring, when the hospital received a “D” grade.
Leapfrog evaluates more than 260 hospitals twice a year and grades them on an A-to-F scale based on their responses to a survey as well as the latest publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that administers those two government-sponsored health insurance programs. The rating considers up to 27 measures in all.
“The physician participation in our areas that we could affect increased across the hospital,” Studley said. “That’s really good buy-in and shows the physicians’ dedication to the quality aspects and the patient safety aspects.”
The latest grades were released this week and showed that 97% of hospitals received a “C” or better rating.
The Greenwood hospital since 2017 has fluctuated between a “C” and a “D.”
Leapfrog noted that the data, which dates back as far as 2017, is based largely on hospital operations before the pandemic put the U.S. health care system under its current stress.
“While the data does not yet include findings collected during the height of COVID-19, the data offers an indication of how well hospitals implemented fundamental safety precautions prior to the pandemic, an important factor in preparedness,” the organization said in a press release.
Along those lines, of particular note was the marked improvement of the Greenwood hospital for having specially trained doctors caring for intensive care unit patients. In the spring, the hospital got a score of 15 on a scale of 0 to 100 in that category. This time, it received a perfect score of 100.
Those who have the worst reactions after being infected with the coronavirus usually require intensive care treatment. The Greenwood hospital operates a second ICU dedicated solely to treating COVID-19 patients.
The hospital received six other perfect scores — three for problems it avoided and three for proactive steps it took to protect patients from errors, accidents and injuries.
It had no cases of dangerous objects left in a patient’s body during surgery; no air or gas bubbles in the blood; and no incidences of MRSA infection, a particularly difficult type of bacterial infection to treat.
Its other perfect scores were for safe medication administration, enough qualified nurses and the staff working together to prevent errors.
Its lowest scores were for surgical site infections after colon surgery and for C. diff. infections, a gastrointestinal disorder that typically occurs among older patients after use of antibiotic medications.
Recently, the hospital made a personnel decision that it hopes will produce an even higher grade. It promoted Nicole Stubbs to the position of vice president of process improvement to focus on quality of care and patient safety. Stubbs had been working at the hospital as a risk manager.
“We’re looking forward to the journey to the ‘A’ rating,” Studley said.
Of the 37 Mississippi hospitals rated by Leapfrog, 11 received an “A” rating, five a “B,” 17 a “C” and four a “D” in the fall grading. There were no “F” grades.
The grades for hospitals nearby to Greenwood include:
• Northwest Mississippi Medical Center, Clarksdale: A
• Bolivar Medical Center, Cleveland: B
• Delta Health - The Medical Center, Greenville: C
• University of Mississippi Medical Center - Grenada: C
North Sunflower Medical Center in Ruleville and Tallahatchie General Hospital in Charleston are not graded by Leapfrog. Because they are categorized as “critical access hospitals,” they are not required to publicly report their safety record. This, according to Leapfrog, leaves the rating organization’s experts with too little information to give such hospitals a grade.
• Contact Tim Kalich at 581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
