Spectrum Health Earns Top Scores in Patient Safety

Four Hospitals Earn “A” After Leapfrog Analysis

Four Spectrum Health hospitals have been honored with an “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits.

Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital, Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital, Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial Hospital and Spectrum Health United Hospital each earned the top ranking. Spectrum Health Zeeland Hospital – new to the system – was not graded at this time and Spectrum Health Reed City and Kelsey hospitals were not included in these scores because they are critical access hospitals.

The “A” score was awarded in the latest update to the Hospital Safety Score^SM, the A, B, C, D or F scores assigned to U.S. hospitals based on preventable medical errors, injuries, accidents and infections. The Hospital Safety Score was compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is designed to give the public information they can use to make decisions for themselves and their families.

“It is very gratifying to see our efforts to maintain top standards in patient safety recognized in this way,” said J. Michael Kramer, MD, MBA, senior vice president and chief quality officer, Spectrum Health. “We work each day to do the right thing.”

Calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s nine-member Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 26 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from infections, injuries, and medical and medication errors. The panel includes: John Birkmeyer (University of Michigan), Ashish Jha (Harvard University), Lucian Leape (Harvard University), Arnold Millstein (Stanford University), Peter Pronovost (Johns Hopkins University), Patrick Romano (University of California, Davis), Sara Singer (Harvard University), Tim Vogus (Vanderbilt University), and Robert Wachter (University of California, San Francisco).

“Hospitals like this that earn an ‘A’ have demonstrated their commitment to their patients and their community,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “I congratulate Spectrum Health for its safety excellence and look forward to the day when all hospitals will match this standard.”

“We are honored to receive an ‘A’ from Leapfrog. It validates our dedicated patient safety efforts and yet inspires us to work even harder to give our patients the best chance for health and successful outcomes,” said Tiffany Obetts, quality and safety manager for Spectrum Health.

The Hospital Safety Score website also provides information on how the public can protect themselves and loved ones during a hospital stay. People can also check their local hospital’s score on the free mobile app, available at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org.

The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders, and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 183 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 700 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 600,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with 19,000 employees. The organization provided $204 million in community benefit during its 2012 fiscal year.