By Lisa Schencker
May 10th, 2022
Illinois ranks 27th in the country for its percentage of hospitals with high marks for safety, with a Waukegan hospital earning an F and one of Chicago’s most prestigious institutions, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, notching a C, according to new ratings.
Overall, about 29% of Illinois hospitals earned A grades, about the same percentage as the last time grades were released in the fall by the nonprofit Leapfrog Group, which issues the grades twice a year. That’s down, however, from a year ago, when Leapfrog ranked Illinois 17th in the country for hospital safety, with 35% of Illinois hospitals achieving A grades.
The Leapfrog grades are based on more than 30 measures of patient safety from the federal government, a Leapfrog survey and other sources. Measures include falls and trauma, hand hygiene and death rates among surgical patients with serious, treatable conditions. Hospitals that earn high grades often tout those grades in their advertising, hoping to attract more patients and gain a competitive edge over other hospitals.