ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA, April 29, 2021 – Northside Hospital received an “A”grade in the spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a national distinctionrecognizing Northside Hospital’s achievements protecting patients from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization committed to health care quality and safety. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” grade to all general hospitals across the country and is updated every six months. It is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospitals’ prevention of medical errors and other harms to patients in their care.
“We are honored to be recognized once again with an A safety grade. Our caregivers and physicians strive to have our patients’ safety top of mind and ensure that we have the safety measures in place to help protect our patients we are privileged to serve, “said Valerie Powell-Stafford, CEO Northside Hospital.
“An ‘A’ safety grade is an elite designation that your community should be proud of,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “The past year has been extraordinarily difficult for hospitals, but Northside Hospital shows us it is possible to keep a laser focus on patients and their safety, no matter what it takes.”
Developed under the guidance of a national Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,700 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.
Northside Hospital was awarded an “A” grade today when Leapfrog updated grades for spring 2021. To see Northside Hospital’s full grade details and access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow The Leapfrog Group on Twitter and Facebook.
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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 in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and newLeapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently reporthospital 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.
About Northside Hospital
Serving the community since 1976, Northside Hospital is a 288-bed hospital, offering a full range of services including comprehensive and interventional stroke care, preventative and corrective cardiac care, full-service orthopedic and spine treatment an ER 24/7®, and general surgery. As one of the first hospitals in the area to achieve Atrial Fibrillation Certification (SCPC), our technologically advanced hospital allows our highly skilled physicians, nursing, and caregivers to serve our growing community. Northside Hospital is the first nationally recognized Comprehensive Stroke Center in Pinellas County and nationally recognized for quality and safety by earning an ‘A’ Patient Safety grade from the Leapfrog Group Spring 2021. Our employees voted us a Tampa Bay Times Top Workplace in 2020. With campus-based specialized services including the Tampa Bay Heart Institute and the Neuroscience Institute for Interventional Neuroradiology and neurologic care, Northside Hospital continues to enhance and expand its services to better serve the community.