Saint Clare's Hospitals in Denville and Dover Receive A-Grade Hospital Safety Score

Saint Clare’s Hospitals in Denville and Dover Excels in Patient Safety – Awarded an “A” in Spring 2014 Hospital Safety Score

DENVILLE, NJ - April 30, 2014 – Designed to rate how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections, the latest Hospital Safety Score honored Saint Clare’s Hospitals in Denville and Dover with an “A” – its top grade in patient safety. The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered by The Leapfrog Group (Leapfrog), an independent industry watchdog. The first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the Journal of Patient Safety, the Score is free to the public and designed to give consumers information they can use to protect themselves and their families when facing a hospital stay.

Saint Clare’s Hospitals in Denville and Dover were the only hospitals in Morris County to be recognized with an A grade, and are also each one of only 251 hospitals nationwide to achieve an “A” grade in all five graded releases since the launch of the Hospital Safety Score program in June 2012.

“Saint Clare’s is very proud to be recognized again by The Leapfrog Group for the excellent quality of care we provide to our patients,” said Leslie D. Hirsch, president and chief executive officer at Saint Clare’s Health System. “Once again, Saint Clare’s hospitals in Denville and Dover have been the only hospitals in Morris County to receive the “A” grade since Leapfrog began sharing this grading system. It is a testament to the outstanding care we provide to our community that we are now recognized alongside some of the best-known and respected medical facilities in the nation.”

“Safety should come first for our families when we pick a hospital, because errors and infections are common and deadly,” said Leah Binder, president & CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which produces the Hospital Safety Score. “No hospital is perfect, but we congratulate the Board, clinicians, administration, and staff of Saint Clare’s Hospitals in Denville and Dover for achieving an “A” and showing us that you made the well-being of you patients your top priority.”

Calculated under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 U.S. general hospitals were assigned scores in spring 2014, with about 32-percent receiving an “A” grade. The Hospital Safety Score is fully transparent, and its website offers a full analysis of the data and methodology used in determining grades.

To see how Saint Clare’s score compares locally and nationally, and to access safety tips for patients and their loved ones, visit the Hospital Safety Score website at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org. Consumers can also go to www.hospitalsafetyscore.org for a free download of the Hospital Safety Score app.

About The Leapfrog Group
The Hospital Safety Score (www.hospitalsafetyscore.org) is an initiative of The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org), a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.

About Saint Clare’s Health System
Saint Clare’s Health System, which has served the healthcare needs of northwestern New Jersey residents since 1895, is the region’s premier provider of community-based healthcare and behavioral health services. Saint Clare’s operates hospitals in Boonton Township, Denville, and Dover, and other facilities located throughout Morris and Sussex counties.

Saint Clare’s is part of Catholic Health Initiatives, which is a national nonprofit health system with headquarters in Englewood, Colo. The faith-based system operates in 18 states and includes 80 hospitals; 40 long-term care, assisted- and residential-living facilities; two community health-services organizations; two accredited nursing colleges; and home health agencies. In fiscal year 2012, CHI provided more than $715 million in charity care and community benefit, including services for the poor, free clinics, education and research. With total annual revenues of more than $10.7 billion and approximately 86,000 employees, CHI ranks as the nation’s second-largest faith-based health system.