Ten BayCare Hospitals Earn Top Score for Patient Safety

The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization that promotes patient safety, announced its Spring 2023 Hospital Safety Grades today, and 10 of BayCare’s acute-care hospitals received an “A,” the group’s highest rating.

The Leapfrog Group collects and analyzes data about infections, accidents, injuries, and errors at nearly 3,000 general hospitals. In the spring and fall, the Leapfrog Group assigns them letter grades ranging from “A” to “F” and releases those grades publicly.

The hospitals that earned an “A” are Bartow Regional Medical Center, Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor, Mease Dunedin Hospital, Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Morton Plant North Bay Hospital in New Port Richey, St. Anthony’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in Lutz, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South in Riverview and South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City. 

“Thanks to BayCare’s extraordinary nurses, doctors, staff and leadership for continuing to excel at putting patients and their safety first,” said Dr. Laura Arline, BayCare’s chief quality officer. “Our Leapfrog Safety Grade achievement signifies our strong commitment to Zero Harm and is evidence that our hospitals are continuously evaluating our performance so that we can best protect our patients.”

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is a composite score that is comprised of the following:

• More than 30 national performance measures collected and reported publicly by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

• The Leapfrog Hospital Survey

• Information gathered from other supplemental data sources

About BayCare Health System
BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 16 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care and wellness. Our mission is to improve the health of all we serve through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information, visit www.BayCare.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 in the quality and safety of American health care. 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.