CARIBOU, Maine — The Leapfrog Group recently gave Cary Medical Center an “A” in their spring 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.
Cary officials said the designation recognizes efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care.
The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization committed to improving health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers. The safety grade assigns an A, B, C, D or F grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.
Kris Doody, RN, CEO, said that achieving an A score requires a total team effort.
“We are very proud of the work being done by our leadership team, physicians, nurses technologists and all of our support staff in putting such a high premium on patient safety,” said Doody. “We also acknowledge members of our board of directors for their commitment and leadership in helping to set a high standard for quality. Our patients expect and deserve our very best efforts and we continue to work constantly to improve our culture of patient safety.”
Leapfrog’s safety grade uses 30 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.
“To be recognized nationally as an A hospital is an accomplishment the whole community should take pride in,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Hospitals that earn an A grade are making it a priority to protect patients from preventable medical harm and error. We congratulate hospital leaders, board members, staff, volunteers and clinicians who work so hard to earn this A.”
Regen Gallagher, DO, chief medical officer at Cary, said that it takes everyone throughout the organization to establish a consistent sense of awareness in regard to patient safety.
“There are a number of factors involved with creating a culture of safety,” said Gallagher, who is also second in command at the hospital. “All of our staff must keep patient safety ‘top of mind’ so that we are constantly addressing issues, improving best practice and raising the bar to higher and higher levels of performance.”
As a state, Maine’s hospitals scored well in the Leapfrog survey, with eight of 16 hospitals participating earning an A. Maine went from 10th to third place in the most recent rankings, with Oregon number one and West Virginia number two, said Cary officials.
Steven Michaud, president of the Maine Hospital Association, said the Leapfrog Group survey once again demonstrates the quality of hospital care in Maine.
“This latest survey, once again, is evidence of how our hospitals in Maine are among the best in the nation,” said Michaud, who is a native of Caribou. “Time after time, survey after survey, Maine’s hospitals are recognized for patient safety, clinical quality and patient satisfaction.
“As an association we are very proud of the performance of our member hospitals,” Michaud said.
Submitted by the Community Relations and Development Office of Cary Medical Center.
