The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog, released the latest hospital rankings in the US.
Several Long Island hospitals received top grades in protecting patient safety, even as the average risk of contracting deadly infections remained elevated nationwide after spiking to a five-year high during the pandemic.
As to be expected, there’s both good and bad news. Contrary to Long Island, Brooklyn did not fare so well: as in 2022, only one hospital in Brooklyn protected patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries and infections well enough to earn an “A” safety grade this year, according to the new ranking. That was NYU Langone in Sunset Park. As for the others, only one received a B, and the others all C’s and D’s.
Patient experience measures — like communication from doctors — declined pretty much across the board, according to the report. Leapfrog said the findings should be a wake-up call to hospitals nationwide.
The Leapfrog Group uses an academic grading scale with five letter grades to score nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide on more than 30 measures of patient safety. The organization says its hospital rating system is the only one in the country focusing solely on a hospital’s ability to protect patients from preventable errors.
On Long Island the situation seemed to be reversed with 8 hospitals receiving an A, 7 hospitals receiving a B, 7 hospitals receiving a C and only one l receiving a D grade.
Here is the complete list for Long Island:
Leapfrog Ratings 2023:
Grade of A:
South Shore University Hospital (Bay Shore)
Huntington Hospital
North Shore University Hospital (Manhasset)
Peconic Bay Medical Center (Riverhead)
NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island (Mineola)
St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center (Roslyn)
Mather Hospital (Port Jefferson)
Syosset Hospital (Syosset)
Grade of B:
Glen Cove Hospital
Long Island Jewish Medical Center (New Hyde Park)
St. Charles Hospital (Port Jefferson)
Plainview Hospital
St. Joseph Hospital (Bethpage)
Long Island Jewish Valley Stream (Valley Stream)
Stony Brook University Hospital (Stony Brook)
Grade of C:
Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital (Greenport)
Long Island Community Hospital at NYU Langone Health (Patchogue)
Mt. Sinai South Nassau (Oceanside)
Mercy Hospital (Rockville Centre)
Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center (West Islip)
Stony Brook Southampton Hospital (Southampton)
St. Catherine of Siena Hospital (Smithtown)
Grade of D:
Nassau University Medical Center (East Meadow)F
None received an F.
Dr. Peter Silver, senior vice president, associate chief medical officer and chief quality officer at Northwell Health, said in a statement Wednesday that the spring Leapfrog report showed Northwell hospitals across the region are “continuing to provide the best quality and safest care to our patients at both our community and tertiary care hospitals,”
“The survey reflects our deep commitment to patient safety across the care continuum, whether it be maternity care, surgical outcomes, care in our intensive care units or care for children,” Silver said. “Our scores reflect not only our dedication to providing the best possible patient care, but how we strive to do better every day.”
Patient experience measures included communication with nurses and doctors, staff responsiveness, and communication about medicine and discharge information. Nationally, the average of all five measures declined when compared to pre-pandemic measures, according to the report.
