Awards, United Hospital

Spectrum Health United Hospital Recognized with an ‘A’ for Safety

GREENVILLE, Mich., December 14, 2020 – Spectrum Health United Hospital was awarded an ‘A’ in the fall 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Gradea national distinction recognizing the hospital’s achievements protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care.

This is the ninth consecutive “A” grade for United Hospital dating back to 2016.

“We’re very excited with the distinction,” said Andrea Leslie, president of Spectrum Health United, Kelsey, Big Rapids and Reed City Hospitals. “With the challenges COVID-19 has brought, patient safety is more important than ever— and this award validates our team’s good work.”

United Hospital was one of three Spectrum Health West Michigan hospitals that were awarded “A” grades this fall by Leapfrog. Spectrum Health Big Rapids Hospital and Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital were also recognized for providing safer care.

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization committed to health care quality and safety. The Safety Grade assigns an ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade to all general hospitals across the country and is updated every six months. It is based on a hospital’s performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.

“We are extremely grateful to hospital leadership and health care workers who have remained steadfast in prioritizing patient safety as our nation battles COVID-19,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “This ‘A’ is a testament to the care and commitment of those who work for Spectrum Health United Hospital. With the current pandemic exposing existing flaws within the U.S. health care system, we appreciate you putting patient safety first. Lives depend on it.”

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 2,600 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 United Hospital’s full grade details and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.

 

Spectrum Health System, a not-for-profit, integrated health system, is committed to improving the health and wellness of our communities. We live our mission every day with 31,000 compassionate professionals, 4,600 medical staff experts, 3,300 committed volunteers and a health plan serving 1 million members. Our talented physicians and caregivers are privileged to offer a full continuum of care and wellness services to our communities through 14 hospitals, including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, 150 ambulatory sites and telehealth offerings. We pursue health care solutions for today and tomorrow that diversify our offerings. Locally-governed and based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, our health system provided $550 million in community benefit in calendar year 2019. Thanks to the generosity of our communities, we also received $37 million in philanthropy during calendar year 2019 to support research, academics, innovation and clinical care. Spectrum Health has been recognized as one of the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems by Truven Health Analytics®, part of IBM Watson HealthTM.

 

Contact:
John Norton
Corporate Communications Manager
Office: 231.592.4387
Mobile: 231.580.1079
Email: john.norton@corewellhealth.org