UM St. Joseph Medical Center Earns an ‘A’ for Patient Safety in Spring 2023 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade
University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center (UM St. Joseph), a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), has once again been awarded an 'A' Hospital Safety Grade in The Leapfrog Group's spring 2023 reporting period. This latest designation marks the eighth such accomplishment for UM St. Joseph, and celebrates the Towson hospital's achievements in prioritizing patient safety by protecting patients from preventable harm and errors. This new grade reflects performance primarily during the height of the pandemic.
"UM St. Joseph is proud to once again be recognized for our staff's unwavering focus on patient safety," said Thomas B. Smyth, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, UM St. Joseph Medical Center. "This continuing Leapfrog Grade 'A' recognition is a sign to our patients, our colleagues and our community that we are a trusted and reliable health care provider. Our community can feel confident that UM St. Joseph is committed to providing loving service and safe, high-quality, compassionate care now and always."
The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization, assigns an "A," "B," "C," "D" or "F" grade to general hospitals across the country based on over 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and infections, as well as systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm.
"This new update of Hospital Safety Grades shows that, at the national level, we saw deterioration in patient safety with the pandemic," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. "But UM St. Joseph received an 'A' despite those challenges. I congratulate all the leaders, staff, volunteers and clinicians who together made that possible."
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring.
To see UM St. Joseph's full grade details, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org.
About University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center
Founded in 1864 by the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, UM St. Joseph Medical Center is a 218-bed Catholic, not-for-profit regional medical center in Towson, Maryland, that offers a wide range of superb clinical programs and centers of excellence, including the Cancer, Heart and Orthopaedic Institutes, Women and Children's services and Emergency Medicine. The medical center's committed focus on zero patient harm, clinical excellence and perfect patient experiences spurred the creation of the hospital's unique approach to care, The UM St. Joseph Value Delivery System, and has consistently earned UM St. Joseph regional and national recognition for patient care and safety, including its ranking as the #1 community hospital in Maryland by U.S. News & World Report. UM St. Joseph is a proud member of the 12-hospital University of Maryland Medical System, dedicated to providing loving service and compassionate, leading-edge care to all.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state's future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System's anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward for patient safety. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.