These are the most unsafe hospitals on MS Coast, new report shows. See safety grades
When a nonprofit group took a look at the quality of medical care on the Mississippi Coast, one hospital stood out.
On a scale of A for excellent safety practices to F for failure to provide standard safety, the 81st Medical Group at Keesler Air Force Base earned an A rating for its superior efforts.
Leapfrog is a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the quality, safety and transparency of the country’s health system. Each fall and spring, the organization grades nearly 3,000 hospitals on their ability to prevent medical errors, accidents and infections.
The safety grade is based on more than 30 performance measures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Leapfrog also uses supplemental data and surveys the hospitals.
The safest area hospitals
Seven local hospitals were graded. This was Keesler’s first time participating in the biannual assessment. The medical group ranked better than average in staffing, infections and most practices to prevent errors.
Three local hospitals earned a B in overall safety: Singing River Gulfport, Memorial Health System and Ochsner Medical Center Hancock in Bay St. Louis.
Singing River earned high marks in medication administration, specially trained doctors for ICU patients, handwashing, nursing and bedside care. The hospital’s highest scores were in effective leadership to prevent errors and staff work to prevent errors. Singing River had perfect scores in each category.
Singing River’s lowest scores were in reported patient falls and injuries and infections in the blood. From 2021 to spring of 2022, the hospital earned A’s for overall safety. In fall 2022, the grade fell to a B. Both safety grades in 2023 were C’s, but the hospital bounced back with B’s in the current and spring ratings.
For the past seven ratings, dating back to spring 2021, Memorial Health System earned C’s in overall safety. The hospital turned things around with its new score. This fall’s B included high marks in practices in preventing errors, staff care and responsiveness and general safety issues. The hospital staff earned perfect scores for leadership and teamwork. The hospital’s scores on scanning patients and medications before administering came in at 96%.
“We are committed to maintaining and enhancing our culture of safety for all patients and families in our community,” said Memorial Health System Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shawn Dufford. “This B rating reflects the dedication of our clinical and support teams to process improvement, who work each day to prevent medical errors and deliver the highest standards of patient care.”
The Gulfport hospital could still use improvement on problems with surgeries. The category score included worse than average scores in deaths from serious treatable complications, blood leakage, kidney injury after surgery, serious breathing problems and accidental cuts and tears. Memorial had better than average stats in the category of leaving dangerous objects in patient’s bodies.
For some of the surgical scores, it was a matter of not performing enough of certain procedures annually. For instance, Leapfrog’s minimum surgeon volume standard for lung resections for cancer was at least 15 procedures for each surgeon and 40 total procedures for the hospital.
Ochsner Medical Center Hancock let a streak of at least eight A grades (dating back to Spring 2021) slip to a B this fall. The hospital scored low on the number of reported surgical wound splits open and lack of specially trained doctors care for ICU patients.
Ochsner excelled at medication orders and administration, handwashing, teamwork by staff, effective leadership, and safety problems like falls and injuries. The hospital declined to answer survey questions regarding surgery.
The least safe area hospitals
The lowest grades earned by MS Coast hospitals were essentially average performances, not failures. Singing River Ocean Springs and Singing River Pascagoula each earned C’s.
The troubling part about the grades is they are the lowest safety scores either hospital has had in the past four years. From 2021 to spring 2023, both Singing River branches earned A’s. Then both scored B’s last fall and started this year with C’s.
The majority of Ocean Spring’s and Pascagoula’s lowest marks were in the infections category: dangerous objects left in the patient’s body, surgical wound splits open, death from serious treatable complications, blood leakage and serious breathing problems. The hospital also scored worse than average in reported bed sores, harmful events and communications about discharge.
Patients who underwent elective outpatient surgery scored Pascagoula low on their experiences. They were less willing to recommend the facility, didn’t like the facility or the level of communication about the procedure.
Singing River Ocean Springs scored low on billing issues and the number of surgeries performed.
Merit Health Biloxi’s C rating was one of its better scores. Of the past seven assessments, the hospital earned a D in four of them. The rest of the grades were C’s.
This year, the hospital ranked worse than average in infections in the blood; serious breathing problems with surgery; collapsed lungs; patient falls and injuries; harmful events; communications about medicines; communications about discharge; nursing and bedside care for patients; specially trained doctors care for ICU patients; communication with nurses; and responsiveness of medical staff.
Merit ranked low on billing ethics and health care equity concerning patients of different races and those who speak different languages. The hospital declined to respond to any Leapfrog survey questions regarding surgeries or pediatric care.
Leapfrog grades are on an annual survey hospitals and ambulatory centers voluntarily complete. “Preventable deaths and harm in hospitals have been a major policy concern for decades. So, it is good news that Leapfrog’s latest Safety Grades reveal that hospitals across the country are making notable gains in patient safety, saving countless lives,” stated Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Next, we need hospitals to accelerate this progress—because no one should have to die from a preventable error in a hospital.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
