NY hospital safety ranking rises nationally. Check your local hospital's grade

New York hospitals received mixed safety grades as the state's health care system ranking nationally rose slightly amid improvements in patient experiences and infection prevention, a consumer watchdog group reported.

Still, only 17 hospitals across New York, or about 12%, received the highest A safety grade from Leapfrog, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, while 26 hospitals received the second-lowest D grade. Three hospitals received an F.

The review looked at a variety of serious health-related issues, from infectious-disease prevention measures to surgical errors, revealing significant signs of gains in curbing preventable health care-associated infections and improving patient-reported perspectives on the quality of hospital care.

New York state overall ranked 39th worst in the country in terms of hospital safety, according to Leapfrog's latest spring grades. Nearly half the hospitals in the Rochester region received a D grade. By contrast, just 15% of the Hudson Valley's hospitals got that same second-lowest grade.

New York’s overall spring ranking was a slight improvement from its fall ranking, where it was listed as 42nd worst in the country.

The recent ranking noted New York's percentage of hospitals receiving an A safety grade, at about 12%, fell far short of top-performing states ranging between 50% and 60%, including Virginia, New Jersey, South Carolina and Kansas.

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What goes into the national hospital safety rankings?

New York has historically had some of the worst rankings for hospital quality and safety in the country, despite spending more than other states on health care.

Potential reasons for the poor ratings include limited state fines imposed on hospitals that put patients at risk, as well as some hospitals’ failures to implement best practices, according to a study by the New York Public Interest Research Group, a consumer watchdog.

The study looked at Leapfrog as well as the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services star-ratings system.

Hospital trade groups have disputed many of the rankings, citing a lack of uniform standards as well as varying timeframes for data reviews that failed to account for the complexities of health care delivery.

While the differences between rankings are connected to the scoring measures used, experts say patients should try to be aware of the results in each respective system because they focus on a variety of important issues.

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NY's hospital safety grades

Many of the hospitals across the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley saw their safety grades improve or drop since Leapfrog last released grades in the fall.

Some hospitals weren't graded because they were not included in the review, which exclude facilities based on several reasons, including a lack of sufficient data reported to regulators and Leapfrog.

Finger Lakes

• Clifton Springs Hospital and Clinic: A

• Geneva General Hospital: D

• Highland Hospital in Rochester: D

• Newark-Wayne Community Hospital: C

• Rochester General Hospital: C

• Strong Memorial Hospital: D

• Unity Hospital in Rochester: C

• UR Medicine Noyes Health in Dansville: C

• UR Medicine Thompson Health (formerly F.F. Thompson Hospital) in Canandaigua: D

Hudson Valley

• Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson: D

• Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown: C

• Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern: C

• HealthAlliance Hospital Mary's Avenue Campus in Kingston: C

• MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie: D

• Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital: C

• Montefiore Nyack Hospital: C

• Montefiore St. Luke's Cornwall in Newburgh: C

• NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital in Cortlandt Manor: C

• NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester in Bronxville: B

• Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck: B

• Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco: A

• Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow: B

• Putnam Hospital in Carmel: C

• St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick: B

• St. John's Riverside Hospital Andrus Pavilion in Yonkers: C

• St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers: C

• Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie: C

• Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla: D

• White Plains Hospital: A

Southern Tier

• Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira: F

• Aurelia Osborn Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta: C

• Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis: C

• Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca: C

• Guthrie Corning Hospital: B

• Guthrie Cortland Medical Center: B

• Guthrie Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton: D

• UHS — Binghamton General Hospital: D

• UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital in Norwich: C

• UHS Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City: D

• St. Joseph's Hospital in Elmira: F

Mohawk Valley

• Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville: D

• Oneida Health Hospital in Oneida: C

• Rome Memorial Hospital: D

• Saint Mary's Hospital at Amsterdam: C

• The Wynn Hospital in Utica: C

For further details on grades in New York, visit the Leapfrog website at hospitalsafetygrade.org.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY hospital safety rank rises nationally. Check your hospital's grade