Mercy Joplin Earns A Grade for Patient Safety

JOPLIN, Mo. (April 30, 2020) – Mercy Hospital Joplin is among 10 hospitals in the Mercy system that recently earned A grades for safety.

The Leapfrog Group last week released its spring 2020 Hospital Safety Grades, which score hospitals on how they protect their patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. More than 2,600 U.S. general acute-care hospitals were assigned scores and only 858 received an A (33 percent of those surveyed).

“Our priority has always been providing the highest quality of care to our patients,” said Dr. Keith Starke, Mercy chief quality officer. “The expert care delivered by our physicians, nurses and staff throughout the Mercy system continues to be recognized by national groups such as Leapfrog, and we are pleased that these grades put Mercy among the best hospitals in the country.”

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. It is updated every six months, once in the fall and once in the spring.

“We’re honored to receive our 10^th A-grade in a row from Leapfrog this spring," said Donna O'Keefe, director of quality and patient safety at Mercy Hospital Joplin. "The fact that we have had straight As since 2015 speaks to the outstanding work our co-workers do every day to provide high-quality, safe care to our patients, and we thank them for their steadfast commitment to doing so.”

Leapfrog has updated grades for 2,600 general hospitals across the country. Using 28 evidence-based measures of patient safety, The Leapfrog Group calculated a numerical score for all eligible hospitals in the U.S. The numerical score was then converted into one of five letter grades: A, B, C, D or F. Only 33 percent of the hospitals graded received an A. Read more about Leapfrog scoring here.

Leapfrog’s Board of Directors, regional leaders and staff expressed gratitude for Mercy’s dedication and courage as part of America’s health care workforce, as “the COVID-19 pandemic threat reminds us all how much we depend on your bravery and caring at our most vulnerable moments.”