Salinas Valley Health Patient Safety Receives Top Grade During COVID-19 Crisis

Media Contact: Karina Rusk
831-759-1843

Nearly a year into the global COVID-19 pandemic, Salinas Valley Health (Salinas Valley Health) repeated its achievement of an “A” rating during a clinical, evidence based review of patient safety metrics. The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization announced today it awarded Salinas Valley Health the highest letter grade possible in the Fall 2020 Hospital Safety Score, which rates how well hospitals prevent medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.

“It’s more important than ever for our community to know our commitment to staff and patient safety,” says Pete Delgado, President/CEO of Salinas Valley Health. “COVID-19 is taking a devastating toll on all of us and in the face of a challenging environment, our healthcare professionals are laser focused on safety. I am so proud of our processes to provide safe, quality care for all of our patients – those with and without the virus.”

The Hospital Safety Score uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single letter grade ranging from “F” being the worst and “A” being the best. The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered by The Leapfrog Group to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

“We are extremely grateful to hospital leadership and health care workers who have remained steadfast in prioritizing patient safety as our nation battles COVID-19,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “This ‘A’ is a testament to the care and commitment of those who work for Salinas Valley Health. With the current pandemic exposing existing flaws within the U.S. health care system, we appreciate you putting patient safety first. Lives depend on it.”

The Fall ‘A’ rating for Salinas Valley Health follows the same letter grade achieved earlier this year during the independent, national non-profit organization’s Spring 2020 score. The grade reflects everyday safety practices at the hospital, and is an indicator of the emphasis the hospital places on best practices to deliver safe and quality care to the community at all times.

The independent evaluation of safety data provides additional information to families seeking care at a time when hospitals across the country, including those in Monterey County, are treating a record number of COVID-19 positive patients. Frontline workers at Salinas Valley Health will begin receiving the first does of COVID-19 vaccine this week as hospital leaders continue to urge the public to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and loved ones from spreading the virus.

“The vaccine offers all of us a light at the end of a very dark tunnel,” says Delgado. “Today’s Leapfrog announcement reminds us that regardless of the circumstances, patient safety is always a fundamental priority to the services we provide the community.”

Since early March, Salinas Valley Health has treated more than 600 COVID-19 patients while maintaining centers of excellence in specialty areas such as heart care, cancer care, women and children services, diagnostic imaging and others. Salinas Valley Health has opened three COVID-19 units and is in the process of opening a fourth dedicated unit while currently rescheduling some elective surgeries to reduce the strain on limited staffing. For more information about the A score received at Salinas Valley Health or to view the list of state rankings, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org.