Massachusetts Takes Seventh in Hospital Safety Rankings

Photo by Dana Guth

More than half of Massachusetts hospitals earned top safety grades in a report released Monday, enough to make the Commonwealth the seventh-best state in the country for hospital safety.

Thirty-one of the 60 Massachusetts hospitals included in the report received A ratings for safety. The report handed down 19 Bs and 10 Cs to Massachusetts institutions, but no Ds or failing grades.

The ratings, compiled by Leapfrog, grade hospitals on a traditional A through F system, based on 30 measures of safety. Performance assessments from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the CDC, Leapfrog’s internal hospital rankings, and several other reports are also considered.

Here in the Boston area, perennial rankings favorite Massachusetts General Hospital got an A, as did Mount Auburn Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, and Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Carney Hospital all got Bs. Tufts Medical Center, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, and Cambridge Health Alliance Cambridge were slapped with Cs.

While all hospital rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, especially those that reduce institutions to a letter or number grade, it’s always encouraging to see our hometown hospitals doing well. New England as a whole was well-represented, with Maine claiming third place in the state-by-state ranking and Vermont taking eighth.

The safest spot, however, isn’t exactly in our backyard. According to Leapfrog, Hawaii’s the one to beat.