LMH earns “A” in hospital safety for Spring semester

LAWRENCE, Kan. (WIBW) - As grades for the school year begin to roll in, LMH Health in Lawrence and Ascension Via Christi in Manhattan say they both earned an A in hospital safety this semester.

LMH Health says it has earned an “A” for the Spring 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, the only hospital rating system focused exclusively on hospital safety. It said the A, B, C, D, or F letter grades are a quick way for patients to choose the safest hospitals to seek care from.

LMH said it previously earned As from Leapfrog for the Fall of 2021, Spring of 2021 and Fall of 2020.

“LMH Health is excited to receive an ‘A’ grade from The Leapfrog Group again for the spring of 2022,” said Janette Kirkpatrick, vice president of Clinical Excellence at LMH Health. “We have faced some challenging times given the pandemic, and we made it through because of our incredible team members. When the need for disease prevention and patient safety was at its peak, our team worked tirelessly to ensure the health and safety of our patients and community. It is an honor to have earned the highest grade, especially considering the challenges the pandemic has created.”

Developed under the instruction of a National Expert Panel, LMH said the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to grade more than 2,700 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice each year. It said the methodology is peer-reviewed and completely transparent with results free to the public.

“Only a small number of hospitals consistently achieve ‘A’ grades, and we are thrilled to celebrate our fourth in a row,” said Dr. Michele Bennett, chair of LMH Health’s quality committee. “We know this accomplishment is the direct result of an exceptional team working across our hospital and clinics. Their commitment to safety means that LMH Health provides healthcare that’s not only exceptional for a community hospital—it’s among the best anywhere.”

Kirkpatrick noted that LMH is thrilled to have received the grade - the highest ranking in care from The Leapfrog Group - and that employees, doctors and leaders are devoted to patient safety and strive to be patient first each day.

“As our health care system continues to feel the strain of the pandemic, I thank the workforce and leadership of LMH Health for sustained commitment to patient safety, day in and day out,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “An ‘A’ Safety Grade is an outstanding achievement, and one that is not possible without a 24/7 effort by the entire health care workforce to protect patients from harm. This community should be proud.”

The hospital said the grade comes from a series of submissions in 10 categories - Preventing and Responding to Patient Harm, Medication Safety, Healthcare-Associated Infections, Maternity Care, Pediatric Care, Critical Care, Complex Adult Surgery, Care for Elective Outpatient Surgery Patients, Elective Outpatient Surgery - Adult and Elective Outpatient Surgery - Pediatric.

“Members of our team in every part of our organization —our employees, physicians and advanced practice provider colleagues—make our quality and safety processes and outcomes a top priority,” said LMH Health President & CEO Russ Johnson. “Thank you to our extraordinary staff for their continued and constant efforts toward patient safety, and thank you to our patients for trusting LMH Health with their care.”

Ascension Via Christi also said on Tuesday it was awarded an A.

“It was special receiving the award last fall and even more so to receive it again in the spring and in the middle of our Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Week celebrations,” said Bob Copple, hospital president. “I am proud of the entire team and how everyone has continued to focus on patient safety.”

“We focus on patient safety, outcomes and experience each and every day as that’s in keeping with our Mission and why we are here,” Copple concluded. “I can’t imagine a better time to have our efforts validated than in the middle of our Nurses Week and Healthcare Professionals Week celebrations.”

For more information about LMH’s specific grades for each category, click HERE.