CARIBOU, Maine — Cary Medical Center was awarded an ‘A’ from The Leapfrog Group’s spring 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. The designation recognizes Cary’s achievements providing safer health care.
The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization committed to health care quality and safety. The Safety Grade is a letter grade assigned to all general hospitals across the country and updated every six months, assessing how well the hospital prevents medical errors and other harms to patients.
Cary has been awarded the highest score awarded by Leapfrog in eight of the programs nine years in existence.
“As the Nation copes with a challenging pandemic, our gratitude extends to hospital leadership and health care workers everywhere for their tremendous dedication,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group.
“We hope this ‘A’ helps to thank the people who work and volunteer for Cary Medical Center. They are role models in putting patients first and their service has been extraordinary in our country’s time of need,” Binder said.
Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.
Kris Doody, RN and CEO at Cary, said that while the current COVID-19 pandemic has absorbed so much of the hospital’s energy, it is reassuring to be recognized by an independent national organization for the quality of work being performed.
“We have established certain standards and quality measures that have really become a way of life at Cary,” said Doody, who is also CEO of Pines Health Services.
“This level of recognition and the consistency by which we have been awarded the ‘A’ grade over the years reinforces all the hard work to achieve such a high level of quality,” Doody said.
Doody also praised her staff at Cary and Pines for their efforts in the midst of the pandemic.
“Our staff, in every department, is very much involved in helping us to cope with this current crisis. Every day they demonstrate their courage and dedication to come to work, after hearing about multiple and tragic experiences of many of their colleagues around the country,” she said. “It is an inspiration and we are so grateful for their commitment to patient care.”
Leapfrog released the results of its most recent survey of hospitals on April 30.
Submitted by the Community Relations and Development Office of Cary Medical Center.
