COVINGTON – For the 18th consecutive grading period, St. Tammany Health System’s flagship St. Tammany Parish Hospital has earned an “A” grade for patient safety for fall 2024 from the Leapfrog Group, an independent healthcare watchdog organization.
The recognition extends St. Tammany’s streak, which began in 2016, to nine years. No other Louisiana health system has received as many consecutive A’s.
“We earn a dizzying number of awards and recognitions here at St. Tammany Health System. This one, though, is easily among the most important simply because it speaks to our team’s collective dedication to one of our foundational principles: to deliver efficient, compassionate service for every patient, every touch, every time,” St. Tammany Health System President and CEO Joan Coffman said.
“Making it even more gratifying,” she added, “is the fact that this is a true team award. Without contributions from every colleague at every layer of the health system, such an unprecedented streak would be simply impossible.”
Developed under the guidance of a national panel of experts and in place since 2012, the Leapfrog letter grade program uses up to 22 evidence-based measures of patient safety to assign letter grades of A, B, C, D and F to more than 3,000 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice a year.
Those grades are based on a hospital’s performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms.
The Leapfrog grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.
To see more details on St. Tammany Health System’s Leapfrog performance, and to access consumer-friendly tips for patients, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.
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About St. Tammany Health System
The heartbeat of its community, St. Tammany Health System cares for patients and families with excellence, compassion and teamwork. It is recognized for quality, safety and service excellence by CareChex, Leapfrog, Healthgrades, Hospital Compare, Women’s Choice and US News & World Report. St. Tammany Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 and Ochsner Health work together in partnership to improve the community’s health and quality of life. Together, west St. Tammany’s top two independent health leaders represent the most complete system of care, aligning behind the common goals of improving access, expanding specialty care and making care affordable. Under their agreement, each retains its autonomy; neither manages nor owns the other. Self-supporting, not-for-profit STHS is A+ rated by Fitch and receives no tax funding. More at StTammany.health.
About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information, they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.