Six hospitals receive 'A' grade for patient safety

ROCHESTER, Minn. — All six eligible Mayo Clinic Health System hospitals scored the highest safety marks from The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit organization that collects and analyzes data to help patients choose their preferred health care destinations, including:

• Albert Lea and Austin, Minnesota
• Eau Claire, Wisconsin
• Fairmont, Minnesota
• La Crosse, Wisconsin
• Mankato, Minnesota
• Red Wing, Minnesota

These hospitals meet the requirements for eligibility in The Leapfrog Group's Hospital Safety Score and earned "A" grades — the best possible — for patient safety.

Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona, Mayo Clinic Hospital in Florida, and Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester also received "A" grades.

"Receiving 'A' grades at our six hospitals is a true testament of the hard work, dedication and commitment to ensure our patients receive the best and safest care possible," says Prathibha Varkey, M.B.B.S., president of Mayo Clinic Health System. "Our patients and communities expect and deserve to have safe, high-quality and affordable health care close to home. These grades enhance and exemplify our presence as a top community health system."

The Hospital Safety Score, which the Leapfrog Group updates and publishes twice a year, uses 15 measures of publicly available hospital safety data combined with additional self-reported survey answers that hospitals submit annually.

The Leapfrog Survey assesses the status of many areas of hospital practice, including:

• Electronic medication ordering by health care professionals
• Staffing of ICUs by physicians certified in critical care medicine
• Having structures and systems in place to provide a culture that supports safety
• Practices to monitor and maintain safe nursing workforce levels
• Monitoring the proper hand hygiene techniques of staff who interact with patients
• Monitoring the use of bar-code scanning of patients and medications when administering medications in the hospital

The Leapfrog Group is one of many ranking groups that recognize Mayo Clinic Health System as a top choice for patients.

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About Mayo Clinic Health System

Mayo Clinic Health System has a physical presence in 44 communities and consists of 53 clinics, 16 hospitals and other facilities that serve the health care needs of people in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The community-based providers, paired with the resources and expertise of Mayo Clinic, enable patients in the region to receive the highest-quality physical and virtual health care close to home.

Press Contact

Kristy Jacobson
e-mail: jacobson.kristy@mayo.edu
phone: 507-263-9706