Good Samaritan Medical Center (GSMC) was awarded another “A” in the Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2014 Hospital Safety Score, which rates how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections. 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 analyzed in the peer-reviewed Journal of Patient Safety, the Score is designed to give the public information they can use to protect themselves and their families. All ten acute care hospitals in the Steward Health Care System (Steward) received “A” grade from Leapfrog.

“This is the fourth time we have been a recipient of Leapfrog’s recognition since 2012.  Good Samaritan has established a strong track record on patient safety as a top priority throughout our organization,” said John A. Jurczyk, president of GSMC.  “Thanks to the efforts of our medical staff, nurses and allied health professionals working together, we have fostered a patient-centered culture which also earned Good Samaritan the distinction of ‘Ranked as one of the Top Twenty Best Hospitals in Massachusetts by U.S. News & World Report.’  We are proud to serve our patients and their families with the recognition of organizations who advocate for consumers.”

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 general U.S. hospitals were assigned scores this Fall.

“As patients begin to take a more active role in selecting where to receive health care, it has never been more important to focus on hospital safety and transparency. The ‘A’ hospitals, including Good Samaritan Medical Center, are helping us to raise the standards of health care nationwide,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog. “We offer our congratulations and hope Good Samaritan Medical Center will continue to strive for an ever-increasing level of excellence in patient safety.”

Acute care hospitals in the Steward Health Care System that received an “A” include: Saint Anne’s in Fall River, Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, Norwood Hospital, Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Quincy Medical Center. Leapfrog does not evaluate specialty hospitals, such as New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton, which specializes in long-term acute care.

We are incredibly proud of this award because it recognizes our ongoing commitment to health care quality and patient safety at Good Samaritan Medical Center and across the Steward system,” said Justine Carr, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Steward.  “In the past three years, Steward has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in new services, new physicians, significant infrastructure improvements and new clinical technology to improve the quality of care and patient experience in our hospitals.”

About Good Samaritan Medical Center
Good Samaritan Medical Center, a member of Steward Health Care, is an acute-care hospital providing comprehensive inpatient, outpatient and emergency services to Brockton and 22 neighboring communities. The hospital offers Centers of Excellence care in oncology and cardiology, specialized care in surgery, family-centered obstetrics with level-two nursery in partnership with Children’s Hospital, substance abuse treatment and advanced diagnostic imaging. Further information is available at www.goodsamaritanmedical.org .

About The Leapfrog Group
The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) is 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.