Just under 25% of Illinois hospitals earned A grades this fall from hospital safety nonprofit The Leapfrog Group, including 18% of Chicago’s 22 eligible hospitals.[Chicago Tribune]

The grades examine safety procedures at general hospitals nationwide, focusing on prevention of medical errors, accidents and infections. 

Leapfrog tracks bloodstream infections associated with central lines, which deliver medicine and other fluids intravenously. The nonprofit also tracks MRSA, a type of staph infection that resists most antibiotics, as well as urinary tract infections associated with catheters.

The nonprofit focuses on similar criteria to those collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, said Dr. Lakshmi Halasyamani, system chief clinical officer at NorthShore – Edward-Elmhurst Health.

This fall’s scores are the first to be considered post-pandemic, as there is some delay between when safety data happens and when it is collected, analyzed and scored. Preventable infections in hospitals spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, but are now trending downward in Leapfrog-graded hospitals, said Leah Binder, CEO of The Leapfrog Group.

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