Fall River, MA – Saint Anne’s Hospital was awarded its sixth consecutive “A” grade in the Fall 2014 update to the Hospital Safety Score, which rates how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections. The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the

guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered by The Leapfrog Group (Leapfrog), an independent industry watchdog. The first and only hospital safety rating to be analyzed in the peer-reviewed Journal of Patient Safety, the Score is designed to give the public information they can use to protect themselves and their families. All ten acute care hospitals in the Steward Health Care System (Steward) received “A” grade from Leapfrog.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for our team’s dedication to quality, safety and service in patient care,” said Craig Jesiolowski, FACHE, president of Saint Anne’s Hospital. “The Hospital Safety Score is the gold standard in hospital safety. We are proud that, by once again attaining this level of recognition, our team is recognized for their commitment to excellence, and that our patients and their families can be assured of receiving the highest standard of care.”

Calculated under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 general U.S. hospitals were assigned scores this fall.

“Patient safety needs to be a 24-7 priority for hospitals, as errors and infections are all too common and often deadly,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which administers the Hospital Safety Score. “We commend the ‘A’ hospitals, including Saint Anne’s Hospital, for helping us to raise the standards of health care nationwide, and demonstrating that they’ve made the well-being of patients a top priority.”

In addition to Saint Anne’s Hospital, acute care hospitals in the Steward Health Care System that received an “A” include: Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley in Haverhill, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, Norwood Hospital, Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Morton Hospital in Taunton, and Quincy Medical Center. Leapfrog does not evaluate specialty hospitals, such as New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton, which specializes in long-term acute care.

“We are extraordinarily proud that Saint Anne’s Hospital has achieved a Leapfrog A Safety Score for the third year in a row,” said Justine Carr, MD, chief medical officer of Steward. “Safety of our patients is fundamental to our mission of clinical excellence.”

In the past four years, Steward has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in new services, new physicians, significant infrastructure improvements and new clinical technology to improve the quality of care and patient experience in our hospitals.

About Saint Anne’s Hospital – Saint Anne’s Hospital is a community hospital with comprehensive inpatient, outpatient, and emergency care services, serving adults and children from southeastern Massachusetts and nearby Rhode Island at its main campus in Fall River and its community satellites. Founded in 1906 by the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, Saint Anne's Hospital is a member of Steward Health Care System LLC, the largest community-based accountable care organization in New England. Saint Anne’s has been recognized time and again for quality, safety and service by such organizations as The Joint Commission, Healthgrades, The Leapfrog Group, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. 

About The Leapfrog Group
The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) 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.

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