Story: Almost 40% of California hospitals graded C or lower for patient safety
Story: How safe is your hospital? A look at California ratings

Nationwide, about 440,000 lives are lost annually to hospital errors, according to medical experts. One in every 25 hospital patients will leave with a new infection this year, federal officials say.

The Leapfrog Group, a Washington nonprofit backed by large employers, analyzes 28 performance measures for more than 2,500 hospitals across the country. Drawing on publicly reported data, it has issued safety scores twice a year since 2012. Not every U.S. hospital is scored due to the limitations of some data.

The safety scores measure hospital compliance with best practices in medical care and the incidence of adverse events for patients. For more information on Leapfrog’s methodology and scores nationwide, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org.

These are other helpful resources on healthcare quality:
• Medicare Hospital Compare, medicare.gov/hospitalcompare
• California HealthCare Foundation: calqualitycare.org
• Consumer Reports Safe Patient Project, safepatientproject.org/tags/consumer_reports
• Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, oshpd.ca.gov

Contact the reporter at chad.terhune@latimes.com

Sources: Leapfrog Group

Credits: Jon Schleuss, Doug Smith and Chad Terhune