Each year, more than 180,000 Medicare beneficiaries die from hospital-acquired infections, errors, accidents and injuries.[1] In 2012, The Leapfrog Group, a hospital quality advocate, launched the Hospital Safety Score in an effort to inform Americans about which hospitals are safest. Using letter grades of A, B, C, D or F, the Hospital Safety Score rates the patient safety efforts and outcomes of more than 2,500 hospitals nationwide.
The Leapfrog Group went on to examine the hidden surcharge Americans pay for hospital errors. They found, on average, that a patient admitted to a hospital with a “C” grade or lower will pay a hidden surcharge of $7,780. The same patient, admitted to an “A” hospital, would pay a hidden surcharge for medical errors of $5,935. To eliminate the surcharges entirely, hospitals would have to be 100% error-free.[2]
A quick check of http://www.hospitalsafetyscore.org/ shows that hospitals in the greater Sacramento region range from “A” to “D” as of July 2013.
Kaiser Sacramento “A”
Kaiser South Sacramento “A”
Mercy General “A”
Methodist Hospital Sacramento “A”
Sutter Amador “A”
Sutter Auburn Faith “A”
Sutter Davis “A”
Sutter General “A”
Sutter Memorial “A”
Sutter Roseville “A”
Mercy Folsom “B”
Mercy San Juan “B”
UCD Med Center “B”
Lodi Memorial “C”
Marshall Medical Center “C”
Sierra Nevada Memorial “C”
Woodland Memorial “D”