How safe are Missouri hospitals? Check out the latest scores

A number of hospitals in Missouri snagged top honors in patient safety this year.

Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade released patient safety scores for more than 2,600 hospitals across the U.S. on Thursday. The grade is the reflection of a hospital’s performance in 28 categories and represents the ability to prevent patient harm and medical errors.

16 Missouri hospitals received an A grade:

• Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau
• Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Festus
• Mercy Hospital St. Louis

• St. Luke’s Des Peres Hospital in St. Louis

• St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield

• Progress West Hospital in O’Fallon

• Mercy Hospital Washington

• Mercy Hospital Lebanon

• St. Mary’s Medical Center in Blue Springs

• Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence

• Liberty Hospital

• St. Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City

• St. Luke’s North Hospital in Kansas City

• St. Joseph Medical Center in Kansas City

• Mercy Hospital Joplin

• Belton Regional Medical Center

A number of hospitals in St. Louis received D grades, including Christian Hospital, St. Alexius Hospital- Broadway, SSM Health Saint Louis and University Hospital along with Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar, Lake Regional Health System in Osage Beach, SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in St. Charles and Poplar Bluff RMC - Oak Grove in Poplar Bluff.

A hospital’s score is broken down into five categories: infections; problems with surgery; practices to prevent errors; safety problems and personnel.

For infections, the Leapfrog Group compared a hospital’s actual number of infections to its expected number derived from factors such as the hospital’s size and the tools used.

Problems with surgery measured the number of times patients experienced issues like collapsed lungs, blood clots or objects left inside the body.

Practices to prevent errors assessed the efficiency and safety of systems used for medication orders as well as hand washing policies and communication with patients about medications and discharge.

Safety problems looked at how often patients suffered from bed sores, falls and blood bubbles and assessed how the hospital tracked and reduced patient risk.

The Leapfrog Group also examined the quality of communication between patients and the medical staff as well as a hospital’s number of qualified nurses and the effectiveness of its leadership.

This story was originally published November 7, 2019 at 10:27 AM.