These hospitals rated lowest in safety on the MS Coast. Here are the grades
Three local hospitals have room for improvement after a recent round of safety ratings ranked them lowest on the Mississippi Coast.
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 up to 22 performance measures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Leapfrog also uses supplemental data and surveys the hospitals.
The rise in overall scores along the coast mimics the results from the rest of the state. More than 24% of the state’s hospitals earned A’s this spring, compared to just 16.2% in fall of 2024. The state jumped from being ranked no. 40 in the fall to no. 34 this spring.
The bottom rung
There were no failures on the MS Coast. But, three hospitals earned mediocre safety ratings.
In its short time as Memorial Hospital Biloxi, the hospital kept the C average it established as Merit Health Biloxi. The scores were based on a scale of A for excellent safety practices to F for failure to provide standard safety.
Memorial acquired the hospital last January. As Merit, the hospital earned C’s in fall 2023, spring 2024 and fall 2024. The C rating was a step up from 2022 and spring 2023 when Merit earned D’s. Under preventing patient harm, Memorial earned low scores for nursing and bedside care as well as staffing registered nurses. On the plus side, the hospital had perfect ratings in effective leadership, staff working together and handwashing.
If safety ratings are any indication, Singing River Ocean Springs is on the decline. As recently as spring 2023, the hospital had an A rating (both ratings in 2022 were also A’s). In fall 2023, Singing River’s rating fell to a B. Since spring 2024, the rating has remained a C.
Singing River’s worst scores were in the surgical category where the hospital ranked worse than average for the following categories: dangerous object left in patient’s body, surgical wound splits open, death from serious treatable complications, kidney injury after surgery and serious breathing problem. However, the hospital had high scores in medication safety, communication with nurses, responsiveness of hospital staff, specially trained doctors care for ICU patients and effective leadership.
Singing River Pascagoula shared the same ratings history as its Ocean Springs counterpart. The A’s stopped in 2023 and the hospital has earned C’s in every review since spring 2024. The hospital also shared the same surgical issues. Each Singing River location also ranked lower than average in harmful events, dangerous blood clots and dangerous bed sores.
The A list
Three Mississippi Coast hospitals earned top honors in the recent round of safety ratings. Ochsner Medical Center Hancock, Memorial Health System and Keesler Air Force Base’s 81st Medical Group earned A ratings for superior efforts.
Keesler is relatively new to the Leapfrog rating system, and the 31st has breezed through each of its two ratings with top scores. The hospital scored high in patient rights and ethics; preventing patient harm; medication safety; and healthcare-associated infections.
Ochsner’s best scores fell under the umbrella of preventing patient care. The hospital staff provides superior nursing and bedside care; effective leadership to prevent errors; staff working together to prevent errors; and handwashing. In the six previous rounds of ratings, Ochsner earned five A’s. The hospital broke its straight A streak last fall, earning a B.
Memorial had perfect scores in medication safety, including ordering, administering and documenting medications. With the exception of the percentage of registered nurses staffed, the hospital had perfect scores in preventing patient harm, too. This is Memorial’s first A in several years. The hospital earned C’s in spring and fall of 2022, spring and fall of 2023 and spring of 2024. Improvement came last fall with a B rating.
One B rating
Singing River Hospital’s perfect scores in medication safety weren’t enough to push them out of the B zone, where they have been in the last three ratings. The Gulfport hospital also had perfect scores in nursing and bedside care, effective leadership, staff working together and handwashing. The hospital’s last A rating was in spring 2022.
This story was originally published June 26, 2025 at 1:07 PM.
