By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com

A local hospital has earned top grades for patient safety amid the COVID-19 response. St. Joseph Mercy Livingston in Howell has received a Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade of “A” for the Spring of 2020. Formerly known as Hospital Safety Scores, Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades are assigned to 2,600 general acute care hospitals across the country, twice annually, and are a recognized standard measure for patient safety. A national expert panel of patient safety experts uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital data to assign grades.

They look at procedural measures like nursing workforce, hand hygiene, staff responsiveness, and communication. The panel also considers outcome measures like air embolism, death rate among surgical inpatients with serious treatable conditions, and accidental puncture and laceration rates. According to their website, hospitalsafetygrade.org, only about 1/3 of hospitals scored earn the “A” grade.

John O’Malley, president of St. Joseph Mercy Livingston and St. Joseph Mercy Brighton Health Center said in a release, that he is incredibly proud of his team for their resilience and continued effort to deliver safe, high quality care to patients. As part of their COVID-19 response, the hospital has screening processes implemented at every point of entry, and all colleagues and visitors must wear face masks while inside the facility.