Hospital safety grades show progress in reducing medical errors, infections

Editor's Note

During the past few years, US hospitals have improved significantly in reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), adhering to hand hygiene best practices, and preventing medical errors, according to the fall 2024 Hospital Safety Grades from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit focused on patient safety.

Released November 15, the rankings evaluated nearly 3,000 U.S. hospitals on their ability to prevent medical errors, accidents, and infections. Using up to 30 performance measures and a transparent, peer-reviewed methodology, Leapfrog assigns grades from “A” to “F,” providing free public access to hospital safety information. Highlights include:

• Central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) decreased 38%, catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) decreased 36%, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections decreased 34% since 2022, when infection rates reportedly peaked.
• Compliance with Leapfrog’s stringent hand hygiene standards rose from 11% in 2020 to 78% in 2024.
• Adoption of computerized provider order entry (CPOE) medication systems rose from 65.6% in 2018 to 88.1%.
• Deployment of bar code medication administration (BCMA) systems increased from 47.3% in 2018 to 86.9%.
• For the third consecutive cycle, Utah leads the nation with the highest percentage of “A” hospitals, followed by Virginia and Connecticut. Meanwhile, no hospitals in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, or Vermont earned an “A.”
• California ranked among the top 10 states for the first time since 2014. Despite improvements, substantial variations in hospital safety persist across the country.