Four University of Maryland Medical System Hospitals Earn ‘A’ In Spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade

BALTIMORE, MD – Four University of Maryland Medical System hospitals – the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC) in Glen Burnie (Anne Arundel County), the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus (Baltimore City), University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Chestertown (Kent County), and University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton (Talbot County), all earned an “A” in the Spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. This marks the fourth consecutive reporting period that BWMC has earned an ‘A’, the third straight ‘A’ safety rating for UMMC Midtown, and the second consecutive period that both Eastern Shore hospitals have received an ‘A’.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is a national distinction recognizing a hospital’s achievements in providing safer healthcare by protecting patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.

“Earning this recognition four times in a row demonstrates the unwavering commitment of our team members to provide best-in-class patient care every day,” said Kathy McCollum, President and CEO of UM BWMC. “We are proud to have achieved this national recognition, and our patients and families can feel confident that they’ll receive high quality, safe care.”

“We are extremely pleased to once again achieve The Leapfrog Group’s highest safety grade,” said Alison G. Brown, MPH, BSN, President of the UMMC Midtown Campus. “This national award reflects the tremendous dedication and commitment of our doctors, nurses and other team members to provide the highest-quality medical care to our patients and to keep them safe – even as we continue to cope with challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“We are incredibly proud of this very significant accomplishment,” said Ken Kozel, President and CEO, UM Shore Regional Health. “Our team members are exceptional, and I am deeply grateful for their dedication to patient care and safety, especially during this pandemic.”

“An ‘A’ safety grade is an elite designation that your community should be proud of,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “The past year has been extraordinarily difficult for hospitals, but these grades show it is possible to keep a laser focus on patients and their safety, no matter what it takes.”

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization committed to health care quality and safety. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” grade to all general hospitals across the country and is updated every six months. It is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospitals’ prevention of medical errors and other harms to patients in their care.

Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,700 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public and available at hospitalsafetygrade.org.