The Trenton Times published the following article on March 23, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

St. Francis Medical Center named one of the safests hospitals in N.J. for a second time

By Christina Izzo/The Times of Trenton 
on March 23, 2013 at 9:10 AM

For the second time, St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton has been ranked in the top 10 safest hospitals in New Jersey in a study by Consumer Reports.

With a score of 56 out of 100, St. Francis was ranked the fourth safest hospital in New Jersey and was ranked first in Mercer County. No other hospital in Mercer County made the top 10.

This is the second time Consumer Reports has put out a report on the safety of hospitals. The first report came out in August and scored St. Francis as a 53.

The report looked at infections, readmissions, communication, X-ray scanning, complications and mortality rates to determine a safety score on a scale of 1 to 100.

According to the report, St. Francis did extremely well in avoiding bloodstream infections, surgical-site infections, and appropriately using abdominal scanning and chest scanning. However, it faltered in communicating to its patients about hospital discharge and drug information.

Consumer Reports develops the ratings based on scientific data on patient experience and outcomes gathered from public sources. The data covers different time ranges and comes from both federal and state governments, the company said.

Scores of the other Mercer County hospitals also improved since the last survey, according to the report.

Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in Hamilton came in second among Mercer County hospitals with a safety score of 47, up from 46; Capital Health Regional Medical Center on Brunswick Avenue in Trenton got a 46, up from a 38.

University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro and Capital Health Regional Medical Center at Hopewell were not included in the first report but received scores of 42 and 38 respectively.

“We are pleased that Consumer Reports, once again, was able to provide an unbiased ranking that shows how well St. Francis Medical Center takes care of our patients.” Jerry Jablonowski, president and CEO of St. Francis Medical Center said in a news release. “It is my highest priority that every person we take care of at St. Francis is treated in a safe and compassionate manner with the best health outcome possible. We provide a safe environment within the hospital, both through our technology and our staff training, which minimizes the chances of an adverse event.”

The highest safety score in the country was 74, achieved by Bellin Memorial Hospital in Green Bay, Wis., while the lowest safety score was Clinch Valley Medical Center in Richlands, Va., with a score of 14.