For the second consecutive rating period, Phoebe Sumter earned the highest grade from one of the nation’s premier hospital rating organizations.  Phoebe Sumter was awarded an ‘A’ from The Leapfrog Group’s spring 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.  The designation recognizes Phoebe Sumter’s efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer healthcare.
 
“At Phoebe Sumter, our top priority every day is keeping our patients safe.  We are committed to a culture of patient safety and continuous improvement, and we are proud The Leapfrog Group has once again recognized that commitment.  Earning another ‘A’ from Leapfrog was not our ultimate goal, but rather a welcomed result of the hard work and dedication of our employees and providers,” said Brandi Lunneborg, Phoebe Sumter Chief Executive Officer.
 
Quality improvement teams at Phoebe Sumter constantly gather and review quality data and have ongoing continuous improvement projects designed to build on the hospital’s safety success.  “We went almost two years without a single patient contracting a central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and a year without any surgical site infections,” Lunneborg said.  “While our goal is always zero, those are two important metrics that show our quality improvement efforts are paying off and having outstanding benefits for our patients.”
 
The Leapfrog Group is a national organization committed to improving healthcare quality and safety for consumers and purchasers. The Safety Grade assigns an A, B, C, D or F grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms among patients in their care.
 
“To be recognized nationally as an ‘A’ hospital is an accomplishment the whole community should take pride in,” said Leah Binder, President and CEO, The Leapfrog Group. “Hospitals that earn an ‘A’ grade are making it a priority to protect patients from preventable medical harm and error. We congratulate hospital leaders, board members, staff, volunteers and clinicians who work so hard to earn this A.”
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. hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.
 
Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital maintained a strong 'B' Hospital Safety Grade.  Phoebe Putney Health System CEO Scott Steiner said, "I am proud to be part of an organization as committed to patient safety as Phoebe.  These improving scores are a result of our partnerships with our outstanding medical staffs.  We pledge to continue to build on the quality improvement efforts that have been underway throughout our system for several years.  Patients want us to keep them safe, heal them and be nice to them.  We want every member of the Phoebe Family to keep that mantra in the forefront of their minds every day."
 
As a small, critical access hospital, Phoebe Worth was not included in the Leapfrog grades.