IRON MOUNTAIN – Dickinson County Healthcare has received its fourth consecutive “A grade” in the spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, making it one of the most consistently recognized rural hospitals nationally for patient safety.
The letter grades are awarded by The Leapfrog Group, an independent hospital watchdog organization, and assigned to all hospitals across the country, assessing how well they prevent medical mistakes. An A is the highest grade awarded to hospitals for keeping patients safe from errors, injuries, and infections.
“Earning our fourth consecutive Leapfrog Patient Safety Award is a testament to the patient-focused performance of the DCH staff. The award also demonstrates the teams’ ability to consistently deliver the highest levels of healthcare to every patient, day in and day out,” said Chuck Nelson, DCH Chief Executive Officer. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is reassuring to know our protocols and systems deliver safety to our patients and staff. We provide care in a protected, welcoming, friendly environment, and our community can be confident that DCH is a safe place to come for their health care needs.”
Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,700 U.S. acute care hospitals twice per year. The methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are accessible to the public.