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

Media Contact: Karina Rusk
831-759-1843

SALINAS, CA, April 27, 2018 – Salinas Valley Health has earned an eighth consecutive “A” rating for its commitment to exceptional patient safety. The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit organization announced this week it awarded Salinas Valley Health an “A” grade in the Spring 2018 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.

“Patient safety is our highest priority and we live that mantra on a daily basis,” says Pete Delgado, President/CEO of Salinas Valley Health. “We are constantly reviewing best practices in all areas of care and have initiatives in place that hard wire safety-first measures. Earning eight consecutive A grades demonstrates our commitment to the community and it serves as a tribute to our entire staff for the exceptional care they provide our patients.”

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.

“This is the only national rating of how well medical centers protect patients from preventable harm and death, such as medical errors, infections and injuries,” says Leah Binder, President/CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Receiving an ‘A’ Safety Grade means a hospital is among the best in the country for preventing these terrible problems and putting their patients first, 24 hours a day.”

The study analyzed approximately 2,500 general medical centers nationwide and Salinas Valley Health was one of 750 hospitals to receive an “A” grade. On the A-F scale, the greatest number of medical centers received a “C” letter grade and more than 1,000 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.