Three Chicago hospitals earn Ds for safety, while U. of C. hospital gets 16th consecutive ‘A’

Three Chicago hospitals have earned D grades for patient safety -- though Illinois, as a whole, has moved up three spots and now ranks11th in the country for hospital safety, according to a widely watched analysis.

The three Chicago hospitals that received Ds were Stroger Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital and University of Illinois Hospital, according to the nonprofit Leapfrog Group, which releases grades twice a year. University of Illinois Hospital got a C in the last round of grading, while Stroger and Mount Sinai got Ds. UnityPoint Health Pekin Hospital also got a D.

In all, 46 Illinois hospitals earned As; 19 got Bs; and 39 earned Cs. No facility earned a F.

Some of Chicago’s most prestigious hospitals had mixed results. University of Chicago Medical Center was awarded its 16th consecutive A grade -- just weeks after nurses called the hospital’s safety into question during a strike.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rush University Medical Center both earned Bs, the same grade they earned earlier this year.

Illinois ranks 11th overall, up from 14th in the spring.

Leapfrog grades hospitals on dozens of measures of safety, including hand hygiene, intensive care unit physician staffing, bedsores and falls.

The rankings are important to many hospitals, which often tout high marks in their advertising to attract more patients. Chicago’s Saint Anthony Hospital sued the Leapfrog Group in Cook County Circuit Court over its C rating in 2017, saying the grade was wrong and based on incorrect data. That lawsuit was dismissed last year.

All three Chicago hospitals that earned Ds this time around serve large numbers of patients on Medicaid, which is a state and federally funded health insurance program for the poor.

Sinai Health System President and CEO Karen Teitelbaum said in a statement that she expects Mount Sinai to improve by a full letter grade by the end of fiscal year 2020. She also noted that the grades are based on data that’s often a year or two old, and the hospital system has made improvements in that time.

“We know that the most recent Leapfrog grades released – a ‘D’ for Mount Sinai Hospital and a ‘C’ for Holy Cross Hospital -- are not where we need to be,” Teitelbaum said. “Therefore, Sinai has made substantive efforts to address quality and safety and have made steady and significant progress.”

University of Illinois Hospital has also made improvements since Leapfrog received the hospital’s data, spokeswoman Jacqueline Carey said in a statement.

“We are highly disappointed by our hospital’s Leapfrog grade, which does not accurately reflect our commitment to quality patient care,” Carey said. “Leapfrog and others that evaluate hospitals are valuable tools, but they are limited.”

Stroger did not provide a comment by deadline.

Other area hospitals were pleased with their results, including University of Chicago Medical Center and Elmhurst Hospital, which has scored consecutive As since 2012.

University of Chicago Medical Center began a concerted effort to focus on patient safety about a decade ago, and the Leapfrog grades are proof that the work has paid off, said Dr. Stephen Weber, the hospital’s chief medical officer.

Northwestern Memorial, which got a B, said in a statement it’s committed to delivering high quality care and it looks forward to ongoing discussions between hospitals and Leapfrog to make sure consumers get “the most accurate reflection of quality, safety, and the patient experience.”

Data reporting issues led Rush University Medical Center to fall just short of getting an A, Dr. Paul Casey, Rush acting chief medical officer, said in a statement. Those issues have been corrected, he said.

Loretto Hospital, on the city’s West Side, moved from a D in the spring to an A. A Loretto Hospital leader told the Tribune in the spring that the hospital had changed leadership and implemented new measures to reduce the number of falls and infections.

Consumers should take Leapfrog’s latest ratings seriously and use them as an indicator of which hospitals to use, said Judy Hearn, director of membership Initiatives for the Midwest Business Group on Health, which works with Leapfrog in Illinois each year.

“The grades really speak to consumers to say here are the hospitals where you can walk in and receive care with some confidence,” Hearn said.

Experts also warn, however, that consumers should use hospital ratings as just one piece of information when deciding where to receive care. A number of organizations rate and rank hospitals across the country, but they use different methodologies and come up with different results.

For example, though Leapfrog gave University of Chicago Medical Center a higher grade than Northwestern and Rush, those hospitals have earned top marks in other reports.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked Northwestern as the best hospital in Illinois for eight consecutive years. Vizient, a health care performance improvement company, named Rush University Medical Center a top comprehensive academic medical center earlier this year.

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