Bangor’s two hospitals received the top patient safety score during the twice-yearly ranking from a national watchdog group.
Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital each received an A grade during the fall rating from Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit national hospital quality evaluator.
It’s the fourth time in two years EMMC received the highest ranking, after improving its score from a C grade in fall 2022. The high score comes during a tumultuous time at the health system, which is facing a $100 million deficit and credit rating downgrades and has recently reorganized upper management, with three people leaving the company.
St. Joseph brought its ranking up from the C grade it had since fall 2022.
Staff at EMMC are encouraged and expected to report concerns they see, EMMC Vice President for Safety and Quality Elizabeth Perry said.
“This A grade reinforces that safety is always top of mind at our medical center,” Perry said.
Leapfrog looks at publicly reported data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to evaluate infections, problems with surgeries, safety issues, practices to prevent errors and hospital staff.
EMMC scored average or better than average for preventing issues such as dangerous bed sores, blood clots and collapsed lungs. The hospital scored worse than average for patient falls and falls causing broken hips.
St. Joseph scored average or better for preventing issues such as dangerous objects left in a patient’s body during surgery and kidney injury after surgery, while scoring below average for accidental cuts and tears during surgery, as well handwashing.
