Cambridge Health Alliance Hospitals Nationally Recognized with an "A" for the Spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — CHA Cambridge and CHA Everett Hospitals have both received an “A” grade in the spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a national distinction recognizing their achievements protecting patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. Both hospitals are operated by Cambridge Health Alliance, a community health system that serves Cambridge, Somerville and Boston’s metro-north communities. The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization committed to health care quality and safety, is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospitals’ prevention of medical errors and other harms to patients in their care.
“Our ‘A’ grade reflects an organizational focus on quality and safety that is driven by our staff’s strong commitment to both our patients and standardized best practices for safety,” said Assaad Sayah, MD, CEO of Cambridge Health Alliance.
One-third of hospitals across the United States earn an "A" grade from Leapfrog. The grade is calculated by measuring both patient outcomes, such as hospital acquired infections, surgical complications and patient reports on their experience, and adherence to safety practices and processes including effective use of the electronic medical record, reporting adverse events and holding leaders accountable for putting improvement actions in place.
“An ‘A’ safety grade is an elite designation that your community should be proud of,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “The past year has been extraordinarily difficult for hospitals, but Cambridge Health Alliance shows us it is possible to keep a laser focus on patients and their safety, no matter what it takes.”
Developed under the guidance of a national Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,700 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.
To see CHA’s full grade details and access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.
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 SurveyOpens in new window 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.