Five ScionHealth Community Hospitals Earn ‘A’ Safety Grades from The Leapfrog Group
The rating, awarded for Spring 2025, is Leapfrog’s highest national recognition for patient safety.
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (May 1, 2025) – Five ScionHealth community hospitals earned the prestigious “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit group that sets standards for excellence in patient safety and care. Bolivar Medical Center (Cleveland, Mississippi), Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center (Hartsville, South Carolina), Southwestern Medical Center (Lawton, Oklahoma), St. Joseph Regional Medical Center (Lewiston, Idaho), and Watertown (Wisconsin) Regional Medical Center each received the top rating during Leapfrog’s Spring 2025 assessments announced on May 1.
Twice a year, Leapfrog assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” grade to hospitals across the country based on over 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and infections, as well as the systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm. Fewer than one-third of the approximately 3,000 hospitals reviewed nationwide earn Leapfrog’s “A” grade.
The Spring 2025 results tie the mark set in the Fall 2024 ratings for the most ScionHealth community hospitals to attain the vaunted Leapfrog “A” grade since the hospital company’s inception in 2021. Of ScionHealth’s 14 community hospitals rated by Leapfrog, 10 achieved a grade of a “B” or higher and seven improved their grade from the Leapfrog ratings for Spring 2024. One likely driver of the improvement is the ScionHealth National Quality Strategy, launched in 2023 to improve safety and quality across the company’s 85 hospitals located in 28 states.
“ScionHealth is a relatively new hospital company with a quality initiative just entering its third year,” said Dr. Dean French, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at ScionHealth. “The progress we continue to make in care quality and safety within our buildings – and as shown in the data collected by healthcare advocates such as Leapfrog – is encouraging to our teams and the thousands of patients who entrust us with their care. Patient safety is at the center of everything we do at our hospitals, and these biannual Leapfrog ratings indicate that we are making significant progress along our quality journey.”
Since 2023, ScionHealth’s community hospitals have earned numerous recognitions – even beyond Leapfrog’s A grade – including Healthgrades’ Patient Safety Excellence Award and Outstanding Patient Experience Award; The Chartis Center for Rural Health’s 100 top-performing rural and community hospitals listing; Becker’s Hospital Review’s “Great Community Hospitals” listing; Newsweek’s “Best-in-State Hospitals” listing; U.S. News and World Report’s Top Maternity Hospitals; and Leapfrog’s “Top General Hospital” list, among others. The company’s specialty hospitals recently had five facilities rank in the Top 20 of acute care hospital locations nationwide by Reputation.com, a measure reflecting the hospitals’ high-quality, patient-centered care and continuous improvement.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade stands as the only hospital ratings program focused solely on preventable medical errors, infections, and injuries that kill more than 500 patients a day in the United States. This program is peer-reviewed, fully transparent, and free to the public. Grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring.
“Achieving an ‘A’ Hospital Safety Grade reflects enormous dedication to patient safety at these ScionHealth community hospitals,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “I extend my congratulations to the company and its hospitals – as well as their leadership, clinicians, staff, and volunteers – for creating a culture where patients come first.”
To see the safety grades of ScionHealth’s community hospitals and other local hospitals, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org and search by city/state or zip code.
About ScionHealth
ScionHealth is committed to delivering high-quality, patient-centered hospital care by empowering the hands that heal to do what they do best. The health system is focused on driving innovation, serving its communities, and investing in people and technology to deliver compassionate patient care and excellent health outcomes. Headquartered in Louisville, ScionHealth operates 85 hospital campuses, including 68 long-term acute care hospitals and 17 short-term acute care hospitals, as well as senior living locations across 27 states. For more information, visit ScionHealth.com.
About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps for patient safety. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.