One central PA hospital got a lower safety grade this fall, new watchdog report says
A national watchdog group recently scored some central Pennsylvania hospitals below average for safety metrics, including health care associated infections, death from serious treatable complications and patient falls and injuries.
The Leapfrog Group is a nonprofit organization that provides ratings and safety data for hospitals, and it recently released grades for nearly 3,000 short-term, acute care hospitals across the country. The organization updates grades twice each year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
Leapfrog’s safety grade is the only rating system focused specifically on the prevention of errors, the organization’s director of health care ratings, Katie Stewart, said in a recent interview with the Centre Daily Times.
“Nationally, we are seeing improvements in patient safety in many different areas, such as health care associated infections,” Stewart said.
A health care associated infection is one that wasn’t present when a patient was admitted to the hospital, but developed due to poor infection control. While U.S. hospitals have on average seen improvements and returned to pre-pandemic infection rates, several State College-area hospitals continue to struggle. These infections are among the leading threats to patient safety, Stewart said.
Two other areas where metrics are improving nationally are hand washing and medication safety.
One of five local hospitals, Penn Highlands Huntingdon, declined to participate in Leapfrog’s survey. Data is unavailable for that facility for metrics that rely on self-reporting, including doctors order medication through a computer, safe medication administration, hand washing, staff work together to prevent errors, effective leadership to prevent errors, nursing and bedside care for patients and specially trained doctors care for intensive care unit patients.
Leapfrog’s methodology changed this fall from the spring grades, and the organization now assigns hospitals the lowest score in areas relying on self-reporting when the hospital declines to report. Below, those categories are not listed as areas where Penn Highlands Huntingdon scored below average, since actual data is not available.
“We want to emphasize hospitals being transparent and making this information available so that patients can make their decisions based on current and accurate available data,” Stewart said.
It takes time and resources to self-report for the survey, but Stewart said Leapfrog officials try to balance the reporting burden with the goal of providing patients crucial information about safety and error prevention.
“The things that we ask about are endorsed, validated measures, and they’re things that hospitals should be looking at,” Stewart said. “They may already be collecting that data internally, and hopefully they are.”
Pennsylvania’s performance declined in the fall rankings for the states with the greatest percentage of top-performing hospitals, moving from seventh to ninth place. More than 41% of Pennsylvania hospitals received A grades in the fall grading cycle. Out of five local hospitals, one saw a lower grade compared to the spring, and one received a higher grade.
Mount Nittany Medical Center received an A in this fall’s grades, after a history of Cs and Bs in recent years.
Here’s what to know about how central Pennsylvania hospitals performed in Leapfrog’s latest grading cycle, plus how to interpret ratings and which areas should be most heavily considered.
Mount Nittany Medical Center
Fall 2024 grade: A
Spring 2024 grade: C
Fall 2023 grade: C
Here are the areas in which Mount Nittany Medical Center scored below average this fall:
Surgical site infection after colon surgery
Death from serious treatable complications
“Patient safety and quality are foundational to Mount Nittany Health’s mission of ‘Healthier people, stronger community,” president and CEO Kathleen Rhine said in a Nov. 18 press release. “We’re committed to continuous improvement and to delivering exceptional care to every patient, every day. Our ‘A’ grade from Leapfrog reinforces that commitment and is a testament to the incredible dedication of our staff.”
Geisinger Lewistown Hospital
Fall 2024 grade: A
Spring 2024 grade: A
Fall 2023 grade: A
Here are the areas in which Geisinger Lewistown Hospital scored below average this fall:
Infection in the blood
Harmful events
Dangerous bed sores
Collapsed lung
Data about Geisinger Lewistown Hospital’s performance for surgical site infection after colon surgery and death from serious treatable complications was not available. Data being unavailable for these metrics does not denote a lack of safety or transparency. This can be because the service isn’t something a particular hospital provides or because the hospital didn’t have enough patients or cases to report data for a particular condition or procedure, according to Leapfrog.
“This achievement highlights Geisinger’s commitment to top-tier patient safety and quality care,” Dr. Anthony Petrick, chief quality officer, said in a Nov. 21 press release. “Safety and quality care are the No. 1 priority for everyone who comes through our doors, and we continue to evaluate and implement best practices across the system to achieve the best possible outcome for all patients.”
Geisinger Lewistown Hospital has also received a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Conemaugh Nason Medical Center
Fall 2024 grade: A
Spring 2024 grade: A
Fall 2023 grade: A
Here are the areas in which Conemaugh Nason Medical Center scored below average this fall:
C. diff infection
Specially trained doctors care for patients in the intensive care unit (Conemaugh Nason Medical Center received a 5 out of 100 for this metric, the lowest score given to any hospital.)
Data was unavailable about Conemaugh Nason Medical Center’s performance on five metrics.
Officials with the medical center were not immediately available for comment.
UPMC Altoona
Fall 2024 grade: B
Spring 2024 grade: B
Fall 2023 grade: A
Here are the areas in which UPMC Altoona scored below average this fall:
C. diff infection
Death from serious treatable complications
Accidental cuts and tears
Patient falls and injuries
Dangerous blood clot
Communication about medicines
Nursing and bedside care for patients (UPMC Altoona received a 40 out of 100 for this metric; the average score was 76.1.)
Communication with doctors (UPMC Altoona received an 88 for this metric, just below the average of 89.8.)
Communication with nurses (UPMC Altoona received an 88, the average was 90.04.)
Responsiveness of hospital staff
“We are grateful for Leapfrog’s feedback and the opportunity it presents for our continued growth and improvement at UPMC Altoona. We remain committed to safety and excellence as our driving force as we strive to provide the highest quality care for every patient we serve,” UPMC spokesperson Sarah Deist wrote in an emailed statement to the CDT.
Penn Highlands Huntingdon
Fall 2024 grade: D
Spring 2024 grade: C
Fall 2023 grade: C
Penn Highlands Huntingdon declined to respond to Leapfrog’s survey.
Here are the areas in which Penn Highlands Huntingdon scored below average this fall:
C. diff infection (Penn Highlands Huntingdon received the lowest score given to any hospital for this metric.)
Patient falls and injuries
Communication about medicines
Communication with doctors
Data was unavailable about the hospital’s performance for 13 metrics, some due to lack of reporting and others due to unrelated reasons.
Penn Highlands Huntingdon officials were not immediately available for comment.
How are hospital grades calculated?
Safety grades are calculated using up to 22 national safety measures from the Leapfrog survey, U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other data sources. The full methodology is available online and is peer-reviewed and published by the Journal of Patient Safety.
Grades are composed 50% by process and structural measures and 50% by outcome measures. The scoring scales differ by the chosen measure.
How should you use these scores?
Leapfrog emphasizes you should not refuse emergency care based on hospital ratings. The group intends the scores to be used when planning things like childbirth, surgery referrals or chronic illness treatment.
The areas you should pay most attention to when choosing a hospital include hand washing, infection in the blood and patient falls, Leapfrog’s website says.
You should also consider how far off your hospital was from the average for any given standard. When evaluating a hospital, you can see the highest and lowest scores given, which helps in weighing a value. The “below average” category can include hospitals that scored 0.01 points under goal, along with facilities with the lowest possible score.
For hospitals that responded to Leapfrog’s survey, there’s often information available about which areas the hospital has improved in and which areas are not going in the right direction.
A hospital being ungraded does not denote a lack of safety. Ratings are often unavailable for smaller providers, children’s hospitals, surgical centers and critical access hospitals.
Leapfrog allows you to search for hospitals by name, location or state. There’s an online search tool where you can find information about more hospitals.
