This national distinction recognizes the tremendous efforts of Norton Healthcare’s hospitals in protecting patients from harm and providing safe health care.

Story by: Kate Eller on April 30, 2020

All four Norton Healthcare adult-service hospitals were once again awarded an “A” in the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. Norton Audubon Hospital, Norton Brownsboro Hospital, Norton Hospital and Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital each received an “A” grade in fall 2019, and all repeated the national honor again for spring 2020. (Pediatric hospitals are not rated by The Leapfrog Group.)

This national distinction recognizes the tremendous efforts of Norton Healthcare’s hospitals in protecting patients from harm and providing safe health care.

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization driven by employers and other purchasers of health care committed to improving health care quality and safety. The Hospital Safety Grade assigns an A, B, C, D or F grade to all general adult-service hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.

“This ‘A’ ranking at each of our hospitals is a testament to the hard work of our dedicated providers and employees, who consistently strive to deliver safe, high-quality care to our patients,” said Russell F. Cox, president and CEO, Norton Healthcare. “Never has this been more apparent than during the current public health crisis with the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“As the nation copes with a challenging pandemic, our gratitude extends to hospital leadership and health care workers everywhere for their tremendous dedication,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO, The Leapfrog Group. “We hope this ‘A’ helps to thank the people who work and volunteer for Norton Healthcare. They are role models in putting patients first, and their service has been extraordinary in our country’s time of need.”

Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 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.

The Leapfrog Group is one of many organizations that rate hospitals on the care they provide, and each uses slightly different criteria.