For Immediate Release
Maryanne Boster
Director of Corporate Communications
Virginia Hospital Center
tel: 703.558.6581
Virginia Hospital Center Recognized with an ‘A’ Grade for the Fall 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade
Arlington, VA: December 15, 2020 – Virginia Hospital Center (VHC), a community-based hospital providing medical services to the Washington, DC metropolitan area for 75 years, was awarded an “A” in the fall 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a national distinction recognizing VHC’s achievements protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care. The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization committed to health care quality and safety.
The Safety Grade assigns an ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, or ‘F’ grade to all general hospitals across the country and is updated every six months. It is based on a hospital’s performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care. This is VHC’s 17th consecutive time receiving an ‘A’ grade and VHC is one of only 41 hospitals in the United States to have earned straight A’s since the fall of 2012.
“Receiving our 17th consecutive ‘A’ grade from the Leapfrog Group is a great honor and a testament to our team’s dedication to patient safety,” said David Lee, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at Virginia Hospital Center. “The VHC team continues to deliver the highest quality patient care while facing unprecedented challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, and their hard work ensures that VHC is able to safely continue to serve our community.”
“We are extremely grateful to hospital leadership and health care workers who have remained steadfast in prioritizing patient safety as our nation battles COVID-19,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “This ‘A’ is a testament to the care and commitment of those who work for Virginia Hospital Center. With the current pandemic exposing existing flaws within the U.S. health care system, we appreciate you putting patient safety first. Lives depend on it.”
Developed under the guidance of a national Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.
To see more details on Virginia Hospital Center’s Hospital Safety Grade, and to access consumer-friendly tips for patients, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow The Leapfrog Group on Twitter and Facebook.
