Bayhealth Sussex Campus, Delaware's newest hospital, graded 'D' in hospital safety

Meredith Newman | The News Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Bayhealth CEO unveils new Sussex Campus Bayhealth CEO Terry Murphy speaks with News Journal health reporter Meredith Newman about the new Sussex Campus in Milford scheduled to open February 2019.

Bayhealth Sussex Campus — Delaware's newest hospital — received the letter grade of a "D" in hospital safety, according to a recent national report.

Leapfrog, a watchdog group that seeks public information about patient safety and quality, assigns letter grades to 2,600 U.S. hospitals every six months. Bayhealth's Kent Campus also received a D, making it the worst graded health system of the Delaware organizations that were reviewed.

Dr. Gary Siegelman, Bayhealth's chief medical officer, credited the low score to this year being the first time the health system filled out Leapfrog's survey.

He said the hospital has since realized it graded itself too harshly in certain categories and is working with Leapfrog officials to improve for the spring grades.

Of the 2,600 hospitals graded for fall 2019, 8% percent received the score of a D, according to Leapfrog's analysis.

Five of Delaware's hospitals received the following grades for fall 2019:

Bayhealth Kent General — D

Beebe Healthcare — A

Christiana Care Health System, Christiana Hospital — A

Christiana Care Health System, Wilmington Hospital — B

Nanticoke Memorial Hospital — B

Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children was not included in the rankings because Leapfrog only analyzes general acute-care hospitals.

A Leapfrog spokeswoman said Saint Francis hospital did not receive a grade for fall 2019 because the hospital was "missing too much data" for the organization to grade it properly.

In fall 2018, Saint Francis received a "C" grading.

Leapfrog often gives tougher grades than the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which rates about 90 percent of U.S. hospitals as "average." The organization's grades take into account medical errors, injuries and infections, responses from patient surveys and data from the CMS and the American Hospital Association.

Leapfrog officials say about 440,000 people die every year from preventable errors made in hospitals. For three years in a row, Delaware was named one of the worst states in hospital safety — since no hospitals received an "A" grade.

This fall, Delaware ranked 23rd in the country.

Hospitals across the country have disagreed with Leapfrog's measurements and methodology. Many opt to not participate in the organization's surveys, which results in Leapfrog relying on public information.

Siegelman, Bayhealth's chief medical officer, said that the hospital feels strongly it has a "very good structure" in place for patient safety. He noted that, in some cases, the hospital lost marks in the grading for not having a "person with a particular title," despite the role existing at Bayhealth.

The hospital hopes to see a different grade when it submits its survey for spring 2020.

"We are going to learn from the survey," Siegelman said.

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Contact Meredith Newman at (302) 324-2386 or at mnewman@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @merenewman.