Cook County

Chicago Hospital Sues Over Drop in Letter Grade: Report

A Chicago hospital is suing a nonprofit that ranks medical facilities based on safety records over a drop in their grade, according to a new report.

Saint Anthony Hospital dropped from an “A” to a “C” in the Leapfrog Group’s rankings recently—which gained the ire of executives at the hospital, Kaiser Health News reports.

“If Leapfrog publishes a ‘C’ grade for Saint Anthony as part of its Fall 2017 Hospital Survey Grades, it will erase years of improvements at the hospital and irreparably degrade the public perception of the hospital,” according to the complaint, which was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, the news service says. “Saint Anthony competes with other hospitals in the immediate area, including one down the street, and one of the most important ways Saint Anthony recently has been able to distinguish itself is the high safety grades it receives from Leapfrog.”

Leapfrog responded to the suit, filed Tuesday, by calling it an “eleventh hour gambit to turn back the clock,” the report says.

About half the hospitals in the country participate in the survey conducted by Leapfrog, according to Kaiser Health News.

The nonprofit reportedly said Saint Anthony didn’t respond to the grading in the required two week time period.

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