UConn John Dempsey Hospital has received three top ‘A’ patient safety grades in a row from the national Leapfrog Group, a health care safety watchdog organization.

This spring only nine hospitals in Connecticut received the highest A honors and only 33 percent of hospitals nationwide. UConn John Dempsey Hospital was also awarded this highest patient safety grade in both Fall 2021 and Spring 2021 despite the challenges of the ongoing pandemic.

“Patient safety is at the heart of what we do at UConn Health,” said Interim CEO of UConn Health Dr. Bruce T. Liang. “UConn John Dempsey Hospital continues to excel at putting patients and their safety first. I thank all our incredible hospital leaders, nurses, doctors, and staff as this ongoing top patient safety score is in recognition of your clinical care excellence.”

On May 10 Leapfrog announced its Spring 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades ranging from from ‘A’ to ‘F’ after surveying 32 hospitals in Connecticut and nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide on over 30 key patient safety measures such as a hospital’s ability to protect patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries, and infections.  In addition, this year’s survey also included five measures of patient experience that have a direct tie to patient safety outcomes such as enhanced provider communication.

“Our repeated A patient safety rating reflects how fully committed we are to the highest hospital safety possible every day,” says Dr. Scott R. Allen, chief medical officer for UConn Health. “We applaud our health care workforce for their strong culture of patient safety, excellent patient care experiences, and always putting our patients first.”

“Congratulations and thank you to the entire UConn John Dempsey Hospital team. Once again our UConn Health faculty and staff are recognized for keeping our Connecticut citizens healthy and safe with their highly-skilled clinical care,” says Caryl Ryan, RN, chief nursing officer and chief operating officer of UConn John Dempsey Hospital.

This spring Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group stressed: “The public must have access to information on which hospitals are safer so patients can make the best decision for themselves and their loved ones.”

Note, The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harms to patients. The biannual grading system released in the fall and spring each year is fully transparent and free to the public.

Learn more at HospitalSafetyGrade.org.