Recently released “grades” for hospitals nationwide show that a local hospital achieved top marks.

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 a year. Leapfrog recently released the hospitals’ grades on the Fall 2017 scorecard. St. Joseph Mercy Livingston received an overall “A” grade and was listed as above average in all areas concerning practices to prevent medical errors and in communication with doctors and nurses.

John O’Malley, President of St. Joseph Mercy Livingston and the Brighton Health Center, said the scorecard recognizes that St. Joe's delivers the safest care possible for patients, adding that they “monitor safety issues very closely and implement solutions quickly so that patients receive safe, reliable treatment…"

Leapfrog reports that hospital safety breakdowns, like injuries, infections, and accidents, kill over 200,000 Americans each year. Those errors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S. (JK)