Whiteville, NC – The Leapfrog Group, a Washington D.C-based organization aiming to improve health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers, today released the new Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades. Columbus Regional Healthcare System was one of 750 awarded an ‘A’ for its efforts in protecting patients from harm and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S. The Safety Grade assigns an A, B, C, D or F grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms among patients in their care.
“The employees at CRHS work relentlessly each and every day to provide the safest
care to our patients. We are proud that these efforts are being nationally recognized by Leapfrog,” said John Young, Interim CEO, Columbus Regional. “This honor is based on the important steps we take to protect our patients from harm: communicating and involving patients and families in their plan of care, utilizing evidence-based practices, ensuring we are doing the right thing, at the right time, every time and training our staff and leadership to listen and work collaboratively to reduce errors,” said Young.
“This is the only national rating of how well hospitals protect patients from preventable harm and death, such as medical errors, infections, and injuries,” said Leah Binder, president, and CEO of the Leapfrog Group. “Receiving an ‘A’ Safety Grade means a hospital is among the best in the country for preventing these terrible problems and putting their patients first, 24 hours a day.”
“The CRHS Leadership Team in-conjunction with the entire hospital family has done
remarkable work in making this achievement possible,” stated Young.
Developed under the guidance of an Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to approximately 2,500 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.
To see Columbus Regional’s full grade details, and to access patient tips for staying
safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade on Twitter and Facebook.
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 collects and transparently reports hospital 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.
News Release April 24, 2018
Columbus Regional Healthcare System
500 Jefferson Street
Whiteville, NC 28472
Contact: Stephanie Miller
910-641-3662
