St. Louis, Missouri, November 10, 2021 – The Leapfrog Group, a non-profit representing hundreds of the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care, and supported by the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition (BHC) as a regional leader in Missouri, announced today the fall 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades.

The independent grading system assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” grade to general hospitals across the country based on over thirty national measures of preventable errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. The fall 2021 Hospital Safety Grade represents the largest set of hospitals ever graded, with grades assigned to 2,901 facilities across the country.

In the St. Louis and surrounding region, twenty-six (26) hospitals were graded, and ten (10) earned an “A,” five (5) earned a “B,” eight (8) earned a “C,” one (1) earned a "D," one (1) earned an “F,” and one (1) was not graded.

The local hospitals that earned an “A” include HSHS St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Mercy Hospital Jefferson, Mercy Hospital South, Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Mercy Hospital Washington, OSF Saint Anthony's Health Center, SSM Health St. Clare Hospital – Fenton, SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital – Lake St. Louis, St. Luke’s Des Peres Hospital, and St. Luke’s Hospital.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harms to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring. 

“The Leapfrog Group thanks the health care workers in St. Louis and nationwide who work so hard for their communities. It’s important we recognize excellence, especially in times like these. But it’s also important to know when hospitals fall short, because lives are at stake,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We see every day how hospitals can and will improve their safety when patients make clear it’s important to them.”

For more information about the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, as well as individual hospital grades and state rankings, please visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org.

About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group  is a national non-profit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC 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.

About the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition

The St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition (BHC) is a non-profit organization representing over 70 leading employers, which provide health benefits to thousands of lives in Missouri and millions nationally. For 39 years, the BHC has worked to achieve its mission of supporting employer efforts to improve the well-being of their employees and enhance the quality and overall value of their investments in health benefits. To accomplish these aims, the BHC centers its work on providing pertinent research, resources, and educational opportunities to help employers understand best practices for the strategic design (and informed use) of benefits to facilitate high-quality, affordable health care. To learn more, please visit www.stlbhc.org or follow the BHC on Twitter and LinkedIn.