SPRINGFIELD – A Springfield hospital rated below average when it comes to patient care and safety.
Springfield Memorial Hospital received the below average grade from the Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization.
HSHS St. John’s Hospital did not receive a grade from the group.
Here’s a look at why Springfield Memorial received its grade and why HSHS St. John’s did not receive a grade at all.
What is the Leapfrog Group?
The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization founded in 2000 and annually collects hospital data. The group analyzes and publishes the data as a resource for the public.
How often are the grades released?
Leapfrog releases grades for hospitals every spring and fall.
Springfield Memorial
Springfield Memorial Hospital received a letter grade of D for spring 2026.
The hospital received a letter grade of C in fall 2025.
Breaking the score down
Hospital performance is graded on a variety of categories, including infections, problems with surgery, safety problems, practices to prevent errors and staffing (doctors, nurses and hospital staff). From there, there are subcategories that are marked red for below average, yellow for average or green for above average.
Hospital reaction
The hospital provided a statement via email, saying the safety of their patients is central to their mission, “and we have already begun to carefully analyze the recent Leapfrog hospital grade and the organization’s conclusions.”
“While no single rating can fully capture the complexity of care provided at our hospitals, we take this feedback seriously,” the statement continued.
The statement added that the data used to create this spring 2026 score reflects trends from care that happened one to four years ago.
“Many of the issues cited had already been identified as areas for improvement, and we are proud of the initiatives underway to redouble our efforts to reduce any risk to patients,” the statement read.
HSHS St. John’s Hospital
HSHS St. John’s Hospital did not receive a grade for spring 2026 because it did not participate in the 2024 or 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, according to Leapfrog.
Hannah Melnick, who is an assistant account executive with CURA Strategies, said via email that Leapfrog is not assigning Safety Grades to 450 hospitals for spring 2026 that did not participate in the 2024 or 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, due to a federal court ruling in Florida.
“Although the court ruling only applied to five hospitals, Leapfrog does not apply programmatic changes to individual hospitals because the Hospital Safety Grade is a national program,” Melnick wrote.
Reached by the SJ-R, a spokesperson for HSHS St. John’s Hospital confirmed HSHS hospitals did not participate in Leapfrog’s voluntary survey.
The statement continued to say the hospital remains deeply committed to quality and transparency, and its performance is measured in other ways.
“Our performance is measured continuously through CMS standardized reporting, real-time clinical data, and rigorous internal review. We are proud of the care we provide and the outcomes we achieve for the patients we serve.”
The Leapfrog website shows the hospital last receiving a C grade in the spring of 2024. The 2024 fall grades for both Springfield Memorial Hospital and HSHS St. John’s have both been removed and now show as “grade not assigned,” despite Leapfrog previously giving both hospitals a D at the time.
Before the court ruling, Leapfrog would use data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for their grades for hospitals who did not respond to the survey. Leapfrog’s website shows the organization still uses data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to help compile its grades.
A Chicago Tribune report this month showed that fewer Illinois hospitals earned F and D grades this year, following the successful court challenge.
Other Springfield-area hospital grades
Tom Ackerman covers breaking news and trending news along with general news for the Springfield State Journal-Register. He can be reached at tackerman@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: A Springfield hospital received a ‘D’ grade for patient care, safety
Reporting by Tom Ackerman, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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