FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 14, 2020
COVINGTON, Louisiana – For the 10th grading period in a row, St. Tammany Health System has received an A for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group, an independent healthcare watchdog organization.
The health system is one of only 29 hospitals nationally to have achieved an A in every grading period – which occur every fall and spring – since the inception of the program in 2012.
The most recent recognition was for fall 2020, in which St. Tammany Health System earned a higher overall score than any hospital in the Northshore region.
“Consistently achieving an A for patient safety, year after year, day after day, is an extraordinary accomplishment and we congratulate the clinicians, staff, volunteers and leadership of St. Tammany Health System,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We applaud St. Tammany Health System for protecting the lives and safety of patients and healthcare workers. Given the immense challenges confronting the American healthcare system as it battles the COVID-19 pandemic, we need all hospitals to demonstrate such relentless dedication to their patients.”
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades assign letter grades of A, B, C, D and F to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms. Developed under the guidance of a national panel of experts, it uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals. 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.
About St. Tammany Health System
St. Tammany Health System is the heartbeat of its community, caring for patients and families with excellence, compassion and teamwork; it will strengthen the health of its community with compassion, innovation and partnership and is recognized for quality, safety and the patient experience by CareChex, Leapfrog, Healthgrades, Hospital Compare, Women’s Choice and US News & World Report. St. Tammany Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 is an independent service district in a clinically integrated partnership with Ochsner Health. Together, the two organizations focus on aligning their healthcare offerings to best serve patients and families in west St. Tammany and surrounding areas. Under their agreement, each retains its autonomy; neither manages nor owns the other. Self-supporting, not-for-profit STHS receives no tax funding. More at stph.org.
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.