HEALTHCARE

Here's how Austin-area hospitals rank in new patient safety ratings

Nicole Villalpando
Austin American-Statesman
St. David's Medical Center is the only hospital in Texas to consistently receive an A in safety from the Leap Frog Group for 10 years.

Is the hospital where you or your loved one a place that is safe for patients?

The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization that has been offering analyses of hospitals' safety records for 10 years, announced its fall 2022 grades this week.

The rankings look at data such as staffing levels; leadership structures; use of medication bar codes and computerized physician orders; hand hygiene; doctor and nurse communications; staff responsiveness; and discharge information.

The data are from a survey the nonprofit conducts and from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data from October 2020 to September 2021. The hospitals are then given letter grades.

Only 22 hospitals have consistently received straight A's in the past 10 years. St. David's Medical Center in Austin was the only one in Texas.

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What grade did the other Central Texas hospitals receive?

Grade A

Austin: St. David's Medical Center; St. David's South Austin; St. David's North Austin; Ascension Seton Northwest

Georgetown: St. David's Georgetown

Kyle: Ascension Seton Hays

La Grange: St. Mark's Medical Center

New Braunfels: Resolute Health Hospital

Round Rock: St. David's Round Rock, Baylor Scott & White (up from a C last fall), Ascension Seton Williamson (up from a B last fall)

San Marcos: Christus Santa Rosa Hospital (up from a C last fall)

Temple: Baylor Scott & White

Grade B

Austin: Dell Seton Medical Center

Cedar Park: Cedar Park Regional Medical Center (down from an A last fall)

Lakeway: Baylor Scott & White (up from a C in spring)

New Braunfels: Christus Santa Rosa

Marble Falls: Baylor Scott & White

Pflugerville: Baylor Scott & White

Grade C

Seguin: Guadalupe Regional Medical Center (down from an A last fall)

Don't see your hospital on the list? The Leapfrog Group doesn't rank free-standing pediatric hospitals such as Dell Children's. It also doesn't rank hospitals if multiple categories of information are missing.

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