AHOSKIE – Vidant Roanoke-Chowan Hospital has received its most recent Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade of A which is the highest score for hospitals rated by the system.

Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, formerly known as Hospital Safety Scores, are assigned to more than 2,600 general acute-care hospitals across the nation twice a year. A Blue Ribbon Expert Panel composed of hospital safety experts across the country grades each hospital on 27 largely self-reported measures of publicly available hospital safety data.

“Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is a letter grade rating of how safe hospitals are for patients. The Safety Grade provides consumers with critical information on how likely they are to experience accidents, injuries, errors or harm while in the hospital,” explains Susan Brinkley, RN, MSN, Director of Quality, Patient Safety, & Regulatory for Vidant Roanoke-Chowan. “It is a respected source of information on how a hospital is doing in key areas including patient safety, infection control, problems with surgery, and physician and nurse communication,”

Patrick Heins, president of Vidant Roanoke-Chowan Hospital, said the hospital is always striving for improvement.

“Vidant Roanoke Chowan Hospital is committed to providing safe, high-quality care to the people we serve in northeastern North Carolina. We use rigorous methods to collect, measure and analyze safety and quality data. Transparency, patient and family centered care and engagement of leaders, physicians and staff are core strategies in this work,” said Heins.

Vidant Roanoke Chowan Hospital performed best in the areas of communication about medications and discharges, and communication of doctors, and nurses. The hospital is also rated ‘above average’ on responsiveness of hospital staff.

“Our team has worked diligently to identify opportunities for continuous improvement in patient safety and quality,” states Heins. “This past year, we reduced hospital acquired infections by over 50%.”

Vidant Roanoke-Chowan received a B the last time grades were released, but previously received an ‘A’ grade in 2016 and B grades during 2014 and 2015.

For more information on the full report, go to http://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.