Editor’s note: This column has been updated to correct information.
In April, five hospitals in Palm Beach County, all owned by Tenet Healthcare, filed a lawsuit against my nonprofit, The Leapfrog Group. The hospitals asked a federal court to stop us from publicly grading them on the safety of their patient care. Unfortunately for the community, the five hospitals earn exceptionally poor grades: three Ds and two Fs. Only about 8 percent of hospitals nationally earn grades that low.
Ironically, the lawsuit has backfired on the hospitals — amplifying media scrutiny of the very grades they sought to hide.
I don’t relish this fight, even if it helps Leapfrog raise awareness of the hazards that exist in too many hospitals across the country. Hundreds of good people work in these five hospitals, and we know a spotlight on poor safety performance must be demoralizing. I remember people who worked at one of the hospitals — Delray Medical Center — from 2014, when I spent three days there visiting my grandmother, now of blessed memory. At the time, the hospital earned an “A” Safety Grade from Leapfrog, and it showed. It was clear everyone working there paid attention to the simple work habits that can mean life or death for vulnerable patients, like frequent handwashing and double-checking medication orders. The staff was friendly and kind.
My grandmother, said Delray Medical Center was “very clean” — high praise from a woman whose nearsightedness never prevented her from spotting a speck of dust one thousand feet away. Her only complaint was that they served dinner at 7 p.m., which is very late for South Florida retirees.
Sadly, hospital ratings show that today’s patients are unlikely to view Delray Medical Center as my grandmother and I once did. According to CMS, the agency that runs Medicare, patients tend to rate their experience at Delray Medical and the other Tenet hospitals in this lawsuit poorly, with scores on patient-reported experience far below the national average.
Medicare also reports that the five hospitals perform worse than most other hospitals on preventable problems like post-operative sepsis, dangerous blood clots and bedsores severe enough to cut to the bone. Medicare gives Delray Medical one star out of a possible five in its most recent Star Ratings. Leapfrog gives them an F.
Stars and grades are opinions about these hospitals — but what matters most are the errors, accidents, injuries and infections behind them. These kinds of problems in hospitals across the country kill an estimated 200,000 people in the U.S. every year, making them equivalent to the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Patients deserve to know that before they entrust their lives to any hospital.
A poor Safety Grade is not the fault of one doctor, nurse or administrator. The problem comes from the priorities and values conveyed by leadership and embraced throughout the hospital. Do patients come first every minute of the day, even when budgets are tight? Patients have a right to expect the answer to be, yes. It is hard to imagine any other reason for operating a hospital.
The good news is that Leapfrog updates Safety Grades every six months, so hospitals can and do recover from bad Safety Grades. Hospitals with far fewer resources than these five hospitals have gone from an F to an A in as little as two years. It’s hard work, but the rewards are worth it: affirmation for the workers and clinicians who dedicate their lives and careers to patient care — and most importantly, patient lives saved.
The First Amendment and a bevy of case law will protect Leapfrog from this frivolous lawsuit. But no court of law can protect patients at the bedside. These hospitals can. It’s time they reassure their patients, their community, and their own workforce about what matters most to them.
Leah Binder is President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. She wrote this for The Palm Beach Post.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Patients deserve to be able to trust Delray Medical Center with their healthcare | Opinion
Reporting by Leah Binder / Palm Beach Post
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