Patients in Florida have a better chance of being treated in a safe hospital than in most other states. The report from The Leapfrog Group ranks Florida tenth in the nation for preventing malpractice and infections. 61 hospitals or just fewer than 40 percent received “A” ratings. As for hospitals that didn’t receive a high rating, Leapfrog Group CEO Leah Binder says several have already been calling to review their results.
“We’ve been actually quite pleased with that response. We’ve been please that hospitals have taken such a constructive approach to the score and set a goal for how they’re going to improve.” Says Binder.
In the Leon County area, Capital Regional Medical Center earned the only A. Tallahassee Memorial and Archbald Memorial both received B’s. Bay Medical Center in Panama City was one of eight hospitals statewide to earn a D. Tallahassee Memorial Spokesman Warren Jones says they appreciate Leapfrog’s report, but it shouldn’t be the only one patients take into account.
“There is a report for instance that Health and Human resources puts out. That talks about actual patient outcomes and readmission rates and mortality rates.” Says Jones.
And Leapfrog CEO Binder says hospitals in Florida and across the U.S are safer today than they were a decade ago.
“To its credit, the hospital industry has focused a lot of attention on patient safety and done some very important work on improving safety and many hospitals have really taken some leadership to address the problem so we’re seeing results.” Say Binder.
She says that doesn’t mean there isn’t more room for improvement even in highly ranked states like Florida. She hopes the patients will use the report to demand better quality care from hospitals.
Click here to see all of Florida's hospital rankings.
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