Maine Tops the Chart in the US Hospital Safety Score Rankings for the Fourth Time

How safe is your Hospital? Many hospitals don't give much importance to the safety of a patient. But some make it as its top priority. It is important to know about the safety of the hospital in which your treated. So all hospitals in the United States are given a score based on its safety every year.

In many hospitals, there is no dedicated team for ensuring good communication between the patients and the hospital staffs. This dedicated team must take good care of patients and prevent mistakes, errors, accidents, etc. inside the hospitals.

It has been estimated that around 440,000 people die every year from hospital errors, injuries, accidents, and infections in the US. The number of people dying only by preventable hospital errors is reportedly 1000. Therefore, it is a must for every hospital to maintain a separate team for ensuring proper safety inside the hospital.

‘Hospital Safety Score allows consumers to quickly assess the safety of their local hospital, and choose the safest hospital to seek care. It also reduces deaths due to preventable errors in hospitals.’

Recently the Hospital Safety Score was given to all hospitals across the country. So how can this help the public? Most people don't analyze the safety and quality of treatment provided at hospitals, which many do when buying a vehicle. Therefore, the Hospital Safety Score provides data and research to help you make informed decisions about a critical aspect of your hospital stay ie, safety.

The hospital safety score involves grading of hospitals by letter. By this grading system, it allows consumers to quickly assess the safety of their local hospital, and choose the safest hospital to seek care. It is assigned to hospitals twice a year and the letter grades awarded are A, B, C, D and F.

The Hospital Safety Score uses national performance measures from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the American Hospital Association's Annual Survey and Health Information Technology Supplement.

In the recent hospital safety score across all states in the US, Maine had the highest number of A graded hospitals (68.8 %) and topped the chart, which was followed by Massachusetts with 60.3% and Florida with 56.4%.

Washington had only 18.2% of A graded hospitals in the state. Rhode Island and West Virginia landed at the bottom with 11.1% and 8.3% respectively. Totally 45 states were given a hospital safety score this year. Maryland was not included in the ratings due to insufficient information.

Reference: www.HospitalSafetyScore.org

Source: Medindia

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