Salinas Valley Health Receives Seventh Consecutive "A" Rating for Patient Safety

Media Contact: Karina Rusk
831-759-1843

SALINAS, CA, OCTOBER 31, 2017 – Salinas Valley Health has earned a seventh consecutive “A” rating for its commitment to exceptional patient safety. The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit organization announced today it awarded Salinas Valley Health with an “A” grade in the Fall 2017 Hospital Safety Grade, which rates how well medical centers protect patients from errors, injuries and infections. Hospitals that repeatedly earn an “A” grade such as Salinas Valley Health demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the care of their patients.

“Providing exceptional medical care and making sure our patients are always safe from any complication is our top priority,” says Pete Delgado, President/CEO of Salinas Valley Health. “We set the bar high in the care we provide our patients and earning seven consecutive A grades is a tribute to the dedication of our physicians, nurses and entire staff. We are constantly reviewing best practices in all areas of care and have initiatives in place that hard wire safety-first measures.”

The Hospital Safety Grade uses 27 measures of publicly available medical center safety data to produce a single letter grade ranging from “F” being the worst and “A” being the best. The Hospital Safety Grade is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered by The Leapfrog Group to represent a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. Each measure analyzed falls into one of two categories – a process/structural measurement or an outcome measurement, each accounting for 50 percent of the overall score.

“It takes consistent, unwavering dedication to patients to achieve the highest standards of patient safety. An ‘A’ Safety Grade recognizes medical centers for this accomplishment,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We congratulate the clinicians, Board, management and staff of Salinas Valley Health for showing the country what it means to put patient safety first.”

The study analyzed more than 2,600 general medical centers nationwide and Salinas Valley Health was one of 832 medical centers to receive an “A” grade. On the A-F scale, the greatest number of medical centers received a “C” letter grade and more than 1,100 received a c grade or below. The Hospital Safety Grade is calculated under the guidance of the Leapfrog Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, with a fully transparent methodology analyzed in the peer-reviewed Journal of Patient Safety. For more information about the A grade received at Salinas Valley Health or to view the list of state rankings, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org.

About Salinas Valley Health
Salinas Valley Health (Salinas Valley Health) is an integrated network of health care programs, services and facilities. At the core of the System is an acute care, public district medical center licensed for 266 beds. Several distinct specializations and programs at Salinas Valley Health include the Regional Heart Program, the Stanford Cardiac Surgery Program at Salinas Valley Health Medical Center, the Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit operated in partnership with Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Joint Replacement Center, Regional Spine Center and Sleep Medicine Center. Salinas Valley Health features advanced imaging and diagnostic tools, including the Salinas Valley Health Advanced Imaging and the Salinas Valley Health Nancy Ausonio Breast Health Center. Salinas Valley Health employs more than 1,650 people; its medical staff includes 297 board-certified physicians across a range of specialties. For more information, visit www.SalinasValleyHealth.com

About The Leapfrog Group

The Hospital Safety Score (www.hospitalsafetyscore.org) is an initiative of The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org), a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing medical centers. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.