These are the Safest Hospitals In and Around the Lehigh Valley, According to a National Survey
Leif Greiss
Lehigh Valley and St. Luke’s University health network hospitals once again earned high marks for safety and quality in a recent national survey.
The nonprofit Leapfrog Group releases its Hospital Safety Grade reports in the fall and spring each year. Hospitals are graded from A to F based on multiple factors, such as how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections. The newest batch of grades was released Thursday for thousands of hospitals nationwide.
All 11 of St. Luke’s campuses — St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill, St. Luke’s Hospital-Allentown, St. Luke’s Hospital-Anderson Campus, St. Luke’s-Carbon, St. Luke’s-Easton, St. Luke’s-Monroe, St. Luke’s-Miners, St. Luke’s-Sacred Heart, St. Luke’s-Upper Bucks, St. Luke’s-Warren and Geisinger St. Luke’s Hospital — earned A’s.
St. Luke’s also was recently recognized alongside Texas-based Houston Methodist and the Mayo Clinic by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as the nation’s three highest-performing health systems for safety and quality.
“You know St. Luke’s is truly awesome because everyone is saying it. This month it’s Leapfrog giving St. Luke’s A grades,” said Donna Sabol, senior vice president and chief quality officer.
Grand View Hospital in Bucks County, which was not operated by St. Luke’s for the period of time that Leapfrog has data from, earned a B.
LVHN, part of Jefferson Health, performed comparably to last spring, earning its fourth consecutive A grade for LVH-Pocono in East Stroudsburg and its second consecutive A for LVH-Dickson City and LVH-Schuylkill. LVH-Hazelton moved up to an A from a B rating last spring.
LVH-Cedar Crest and LVH-Muhlenberg earned B’s. For the first time in about two years, LVH-Hecktown Oaks dropped down to a B. LVH-Carbon retained a C ranking.
“Jefferson Health’s mission is fundamentally about improving lives through compassionate, high-quality care. This recognition is a direct reflection of our commitment to prioritizing excellence in everything we do,” said Dr. Baligh R. Yehia, president of Jefferson Health. “Maintaining this standard of excellence in both access and quality is only possible because of the extraordinary efforts of all our colleagues, physicians, nurses, caregivers and staff.”
In Pennsylvania, 131 hospitals were graded, and 57 earned an A, 32 earned a B, 35 earned a C and seven earned a D. Overall, 43.5% of Pennsylvania hospitals received A grades, and the state ranks as eighth in the country for percentage of A-graded hospitals.
However, even top-performing hospitals have room for improvement, and Leapfrog pointed out areas where St. Luke’s and LVHN hospitals were below average. For instance, LVH-Schuylkill, Hecktown Oaks, Cedar Crest, Hazleton, Muhlenberg and Carbon as well as St. Luke’s-Anderson and Upper Bucks were below average for preventing falls that resulted in a broken hip.
St. Luke’s Hospital-Allentown, Fountain Hill and Sacred Heart were all rated below average at ensuring that surgeons didn’t leave dangerous objects in patients’ bodies.
Recurring issues at LVH-Hecktown Oaks, Cedar Crest, Muhlenberg and Carbon that were documented in previous reports included dangerous bedsores and what Leapfrog refers to as harmful events — complications and potentially harmful errors following a surgery, procedure or childbirth.