Now, four Minnesota hospitals are earning D grades in patient safety

Safety is an important factor when choosing a healthcare provider. Hospitals across the country strive to provide the best care for their patients, but unfortunately some hospitals let their patients down, sometimes with tragic consequences.

According to LeapFrog Hospital Safety Grade, these are typically hospitals with teams that don’t work well together or don’t have good leadership that ensures patient safety is the first priority.

When such environments exist within a hospital, one mistake can end up with patients experiencing dangerous complications, slower recovery times, and in some cases even unnecessary deaths.

That’s why they rate hospitals across the country several times a year and provide these safety ratings to the public. Their hospital metrics have become the gold standard for hospital safety rankings in America. Not only do they provide consumers with crucial information to help them make informed choices about where to receive care, but they also show hospitals where they need to improve.

The numbers are surprising

According to the study:

• More than 200,000 people die every year as a result of hospital errors, injuries, accidents and infections
• Every year, 1 in 31 patients gets an infection during their hospital stay, an infection that did not have to happen.
• A Medicare patient has a 1 in 4 chance of injury, damage or death when admitted to a hospital
• Today alone, more than 500 people will die due to a preventable hospital error

Because most hospital errors are preventable, LeapFrog uses up to 30 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to create their hospital safety rating. Factors such as medical errors, surgical issues, safety issues, error prevention practices, and hospital staffing are taken into account.

Minnesota hospital safety numbers spring 2024

In the fall 2023 survey, Minnesota had two hospitals earn a stunning “D” score for patient safety. LeapFrog recently released the results of their Spring 2024 survey and unfortunately that number has doubled.

On the plus side, Minnesota ranks 29th nationally in patient safety, up from the 32nd place they ranked in the fall. Also, the Essentia Health Clinic in Virginia no longer received a ‘D’ grade in the previous survey.

In its recent spring survey, Minnesota had 10 hospitals receive an “A” grade, while another 14 hospitals received a “B.” This is an increase for each grade compared to the previous survey.

The hospitals that earned an ‘A’ include:

• Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis
• Buffalo Hospital in Buffalo
• Cambridge Medical Center in Cambridge
• Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin
• Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont
• Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato
• Mayo Clinic Health System in Red Wing
• Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester
• Owatonna Hospital in Owatonna
• Sanford Worthington Medical Center in Worthington

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Seventeen hospitals in Minnesota received a mediocre C score in this study, and four hospitals fared even worse.

Minnesota hospitals that earned a ‘D’ grade for hospital safety in the spring of 2024

1. Sanford Bemidji Medical Center

Unfortunately, this is the second consecutive survey to give this facility a ‘D’ grade. Sanford Bemidji Medical Center, located at 1300 Anne Street NW, failed to score “Better than Average” on a number of key indicators.

This included urinary tract infections, sepsis infection after surgery, a dangerous object left in the patient’s body, falls and patient injuries including broken hips, hand washing, safe medication administration and more.

it did score well in the areas of communication with doctors and the responsiveness of hospital staff. You can view Sanford Bemidji Medical Center’s full report card at the link above.

2. M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center – West Bank East

M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center, located at 2450 Riverside Avenue in Minneapolis, scored poorly in patient infections, dangerous object left in a patient’s body, death from serious treatable complications, falls and injuries of patients, safe medication administration and more.

You can view the full report via the button above.

3. North Memorial Health Hospital

North Memorial Health Hospital, located at 3300 Oakdale Avenue N in Robbinsdale, scored worse than average bloodstream infections, sepsis infection after surgery, death from serious treatable complications, severe respiratory problems, dangerous blood ulcers and more.

View the full report from North Memorial Health Hospital by clicking the button below.

4. Sint-Lucas Hospital

St. Luke’s Hospital, located at 915 E 1st Street in Duluth, scored below average in sepsis infection after surgery, kidney injury after surgery, accidental cuts and tears, safe medication administration and more. They scored better than average in a number of areas, such as communication with doctors and nurses.

Click the button above the full report from St. Luke’s Hospital.

You can view all of the Minnesota hospital numbers included in the Spring 2024 survey you received by clicking the button below.

Simply search by state and select “MN” from the drop-down menu.

The good news is that these numbers are not etched in stone forever. LeapFrog will do another report later this year, and hopefully at that point Minnesota will have no more hospitals earning a ‘D’ grade as all the issues have improved.

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