Eight Hackensack Meridian Health Hospitals Receive an "A" for Patient Safety from The Leapfrog Group

The number of network hospitals receiving top grades doubled since last Leapfrog ratings

Hackensack Meridian Health is proud to announce that eight hospitals received an "A" grade for their commitment to keeping patients safe and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S, according to The Leapfrog Group, a national non-profit health care ratings organization.

The following hospitals received "A" grades: Bayshore Medical Center, Holmdel; Hackensack University Medical Center; JFK Medical Center, Edison; Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune; Ocean Medical Center, Brick; Raritan Bay Medical Center, Perth Amboy; Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank; Southern Ocean Medical Center, Manahawkin.

"We are proud to receive "A" grades from The Leapfrog Group for eight of our hospitals, which is evidence of the dedication of our clinical and quality teams to continuously strive to improve patient safety and clinical quality throughout our network," said Robert C. Garrett, co-CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health.

Hackensack Meridian Health is committed to producing the best outcomes by implementing high reliability tools and behaviors in every level of care provided throughout the network.

"We ensure that all of our teams focus on the same goals – delivering safe, high-quality care and the best patient experience possible," said Carol Barsky, M.D. MBA, senior vice president and chief quality officer.

"This is the only national rating of how well hospitals protect patients from preventable harm and death, such as medical errors, infections, and injuries," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. "Receiving an ‘A' Safety Grade means a hospital is among the best in the country for preventing these terrible problems and putting their patients first, 24 hours a day."

Developed under the guidance of a Blue Ribbon National Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

Four Hackensack Meridian Health hospitals improved from a "B" to an "A" – JFK Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center Perth Amboy and Southern Ocean Medical Center.

In the most recent rankings, Raritan Bay Medical Center, Old Bridge received a "B" grade and three network hospitals received a "C" grade - Mountainside Medical Center, Montclair; Pascack Valley Medical Center, Westwood; Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen.

To see Hackensack Meridian Health hospitals' full grades, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade on Twitter and Facebook.

About The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

Today the organization released new Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades and included four network hospitals among 832 in the nation awarded an "A"

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 16 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children's hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals - Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 450 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has 33,000 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network's notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," one of the "20 Best Workplaces in Health Care" in the nation, and the number one "Best Place to Work for Women." The network was also named to Becker's Healthcare's "150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2018" list.

Hackensack Meridian Health partnered with Seton Hall University to launch the first private medical school in New Jersey – Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University - in more than 50 years to address a growing shortage of physicians and dramatic changes in health care delivery. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it. Hackensack Meridian Health and Carrier Clinic, New Jersey's oldest and most respected behavioral health provider, signed a definitive agreement to merge.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org