National hospital rating organization, The Leapfrog Group has given an A rating to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Carilion New River Valley Medical Center and Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital. This is the organization’s first ever Hospital Safety Score report. Only 729 hospitals out of the 2,600 rated hospitals received the A rating. Visit hospitalsafetyscore.org for more information.

Here is the press release from Carilion Clinic.

ROANOKE, Va. (June 18, 2012) – The Leapfrog Group, a national hospital rating organization, released its first ever “Hospital Safety Score” report that grades hospitals with an A, B, C, D, or F letter grade to reflect how safe hospitals are for patients. Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital (CRMH) received an “A” grade, making CRMH among the 729 hospitals that received the highest rating out of more than 2,600 hospitals graded nationwide.

“We are committed to providing the best experience possible at our hospitals and that includes good clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and safety for our patients, visitors and staff,” said Nancy Agee, president and chief executive officer at Carilion Clinic. “The recently released ratings by Leapfrog highlight our dedication to safety and affirm our processes are effective.”

The Leapfrog Group used 26 weighted measures of publicly available hospital safety data to create its grading system. The Hospital Safety Score places each measure into one of two domains: process/structural measures and outcomes measures. Process/structural measures represent how often the hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition/procedure and the environment in which patients receive care. Outcome measures represent what happens to a patient while receiving care.

Information from secondary sources, such as hospitals’ voluntary reports and data available from Medicare, were also included in the overall score.

Carilion New River Valley Medical Center and Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital also received an “A” rating. Hospitals excluded from receiving a score include critical access hospitals, specialty hospitals, pediatric hospitals, hospitals in Maryland and territories exempt from public reporting to CMS, and others.

For more information or to view the scores, please visit hospitalsafetyscore.org.

About Carilion Clinic
Carilion Clinic is a not-for-profit healthcare organization serving nearly one million people in Virginia through hospitals, outpatient specialty centers and advanced primary care practices. Led by multi-specialty physician teams with a shared philosophy that puts the patient first, Carilion is committed to improving outcomes for every patient while advancing the quality of care through medical education and research. For more information visit www.carilionclinic.org/about.