A number of Illinois hospitals earned higher rankings, but some moved down, reaching one of the lowest grades in a biannual safety list released by health care watchdog group and nonprofit Leapfrog.
The 2023 Fall Safety Grades report was released Monday, grading nearly 3,000 hospitals across the country on more than two dozen performance measures.
The group then assigns letter grades to hospitals on a scale of "A," "B," "C," D" and "F."
In Illinois, 109 hospitals were graded, down from the 112 graded in the spring. Overall, the state stayed at no. 28 in the nationwide ranking, with 24.8% of hospitals earning an "A" grade, down from the spring's 26.1%. Utah ranked the highest with 51.9% of hospitals earning an "A" grade.
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The report, which is updated biannually in the fall and the spring, uses 30 performance measures along with five main measures that have "direct impact on patient safety outcomes" to generate the hospital safety ratings report, Leapfrog said. Those include nurse communication, doctor communication, staff responsiveness, communication about medicine and discharge information.
While no Illinois hospitals received an "F" grade, unlike previous reports, several did receive a "D" grade, with a few dropping down from their "C" ranking in the spring.
The latest ranking marks the first set of grades "to reflect hospital performance post-pandemic," according to Leapfrog.
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“Now that we have pre- and post-pandemic data for patient safety measures, we are encouraged by the improvement in infections and applaud hospitals for reversing the disturbing infection spike we saw during the pandemic,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a statement. “However, there’s still more work to be done. It’s deeply concerning that patient reports about their health care experience continues to decline.”
Of Illinois' 109 hospitals graded, 27 received an "A," 24 a "B," 50 a "C" and eight a "D."
Among those to see a rise in their rank and receive a new "A" grade were Ascension Resurrection in Chicago, Edward Hospital in Naperville and Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.
Roseland Community Hospital, which was the state's only "F" grade in the spring, jumped up to "C" rating in the latest report.
Others, however, dropped from a "C" to a "D," including Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago, and Thorek Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
"Safety always has been and always will be our top priority. We’re proud of our safety record – including a 70% reduction in serious safety events in Illinois since 2014 – and we continue to advance a data-driven approach as we focus on continuous improvement," Advocate Health Care said in a statement to NBC Chicago. "We firmly believe that meaningful quality and safety data should be transparent to the public. Accurately measuring this data can be challenging as there are many factors that contribute to providing great care, and our scores reflect that we did not participate in the Leapfrog survey."
The full Leapfrog safety grades report for Fall 2023 can be found here.
Here's the full list of grades for Chicago-area hospitals:
Grade A
- Ascension Alexian Brothers, Elk Grove Village
- Ascension Resurrection, Chicago
- Edward Hospital, Naperville
- Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, Elmhurst
- NorthShore University HealthSystem Hospital Evanston, Glenbrook, Highland Park
- Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights
- Northwestern Medicine Hospital Central DuPage, Delnor, Huntley, Kishwaukee, McHenry, Lake Forest
- OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center, Evergreen Park
- Rush Oak Park Hospital, Oak Park
- Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
- Silver Cross Hospital, New Lenox
- St. Bernard Hospital, Chicago
- Chicago Medicine AdventHealth, Bolingbrook, Glendale Heights, Hinsdale, LaGrange
- University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago
Grade B
- Ascension Mercy, Aurora
- Ascension Saint Alexius, Hoffman Estates
- Ascension Saint Francis, Evanston
- Ascension Saint Mary-Chicago
- Humboldt Park Health, Chicago
- John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, Chicago
- Loretto Hospital, Chicago
- Loyola Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Melrose Park
- MacNeal Hospital, Berwyn
- Morris Hospital, Morris
- Ottawa Regional Hospital and Health Care Center, Ottawa
- Rush Copley Medical Center, Aurora
- Swedish Hospital, Chicago
Grade C
- Advocate Condell Medical Center, Libertyville
- Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, Barrington
- Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Chicago
- Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge
- Advocate Sherman Hospital, Elgin
- Ascension Saint Joseph Joliet, Chicago, Elgin
- Ascension Saint Mary-Kankakee
- Franciscan Health Olympia Fields
- Holy Cross Hospital, Chicago
- Ingalls Memorial Hospital, Harvey
- Jackson Park Hospital, Chicago
- Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood
- Mt. Sinai Hospital, Chicago
- Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital, Palos Heights
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital Chicago
- Riverside Medical Center, Kankakee
- Roseland Community Hospital, Chicago
- Saint Anthony Hospital, Chicago
- University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, Chicago
- Vista Medical Center East, Waukegan
- Weiss Memorial Hospital, Chicago
- West Suburban Medical Center, Oak Park
Grade D
- Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn
- Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove
- Advocate South Suburban Hospital, Hazel Crest
- Advocate Trinity Hospital, Chicago
- Community First Medical Center, Chicago
- Thorek Memorial Hospital, Chicago
This story will be updated with responses from health care centers as they are provided.
