The Trenton Times published the following article on October 23, 2013. To read the following article, click here.
National survey on hospital safety grades Mercer County hospitals
By Mike Davis/The Times
on October 23, 2013 at 8:33 PM, updated October 23, 2013 at 8:35 PMA national survey on hospital safety awarded an “A” grade to three Mercer County hospitals, but its biggest healthcare system received “B” and “C” grades at its two campuses.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro and the St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton received “A” grades from the Leapfrog Group’s biannual Hospital Safety Score.
Capital Health Regional Medical Center, in Trenton, received a “B” grade and the Capital Health Hopewell campus received a “C” grade.
The report is based on data regarding preventable problems and mistakes, including errors, accidents and injuries, which the hospitals reported between 2009 and 2012.
“As patients begin to take a more active role in selecting where to receive health care, it has never been more important to focus on hospital safety and transparency. Hospitals with outstanding safety performance are helping us to raise the standard of health care nationwide,” said Leah Binder, Leapfrog president and chief executive officer.
While the report collected data from Capital Health Hopewell, the timeframe was before that hospital was open and used information from Capital Health’s Mercer campus, which closed in 2011.
According to the Hospital Safety Score, the Mercer campus performed below average in nine of the score’s 28 categories, including foreign objects accidentally left in the body during surgery, death among patients due to treatable complications and staffing in the intensive care unit. The hospital did not report data for eight categories.