We Earned Another Top "A" Grade for Safety

Once again Carteret Health Care has been awarded an “A” by a national ratings program, The Leapfrog Group. An announcement by the group shows Carteret Health Care received its fourth consecutive top ranking "A" for safety. Carteret's Hospital Safety Grade is 3.38 in the latest release for hospitals across the country and the highest grade awarded to hospitals for keeping patients safe from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. 

“The safety of our patients and the quality of care they receive is a top priority here at Carteret,” said Carteret Health Care CEO Dick Brvenik. “Our team is honored to be amongst an elite group of hospitals that are providing quality care and that our hospital continues to earn recognition for putting patients’ safety first.”

Only 31% of hospitals in the nation were recognized with an A Safety Grade this spring. Carteret Health Care’s 3.38 grade is well above the minimum A normalized Hospital Safety Grade of 3.164 as indicated by The Leapfrog Group. From all the states in our nation, North Carolina ranked 6th with a higher percentage of A hospitals in our state at 55.1%. Using 30 evidence-based measures of patient safety, The Leapfrog Group calculated a numerical grade for all eligible hospitals in the US. The numerical grade was then converted in to one of five letter grades from A to F with A representing the best Hospital Safety Grade.

For Carteret Health Care, this comes after other achievements such as being recognized as the only North Carolina Top 100 Rural & Community Hospital by iVantage Health Analytics and for receiving the most Get With The Guideline awards of any North Carolina hospital for heart failure, stroke, atrial fibrillation and resuscitation care. Equally notable announcements include care excellence awards by The Joint Commission for Hospital Accreditation for stroke and joint procedures.

The Leapfrog Group is a not for profit organization that provides free information for the benefit of the public on hospital compliance with process measures, structural measures and outcome measures to help patients make best choices in selecting hospitals. The report uses some readily available data such as the CMS core measures, data from the American Hospital Association, and the Leapfrog Group’s own surveys.

Dr. Donald Pocock, Vice President of Medical Affairs added, “This grade is a powerful reflection of our continuous commitment to quality and safe care and is an impressive accomplishment for each and every physician, staff member and volunteer associated with Carteret Health Care.”

The Leapfrog Group website was updated on April 12 with these new Safety Grades. The community is encouraged to visit the website at www.hospitalsafetyGrade.org to review this fully transparent information in greater detail.

Brvenik concluded, “Our patients truly benefit when we put quality and safety at the forefront of everything we do.”