Report: State's top hospitals stumble on patient safety

Scores drop in past 6 months amid short staff

By: Scott Fallon
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network

..... New Jersey's best hospitals have stumbled in the most recent patient safety scores, dropping in the past six months, at a time of staffing shortages, from first in the nation for the percentage of facilities with an "A" grade to 13th, according to a report released Monday. [11/06/2023]
..... While hospitals overall cut down on the number of patients getting there serious forms of hospital-acquired infections, some fell in patient surveys for doctor and nurse communication, staff responsiveness, informality about medicine and discharge instructions, said The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog of hospital quality.
..... Adelisa Perez-Hudgins, an executive with the nonprofit New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, said the drop in "A's" is a reminder that "quality improvement is a continuous journey that requires attention and persistence."
..... Leah Binder, president of The Leapfrog Group, called the decline nationally in patient reports "deeply concerning" because communication is such an important part of maintaining patient safety.
..... Still, New Jersey outpaced the rest of the U.S. in top hospital grades, with 76% getting an "A" or "B" grade compared with 54% nationally.
..... No New Jersey hospital received a "D" or "F" - scores that about 8% of hospital nationwide received.
..... Many of New Jersey's hospitals were able to cut down on staph, blood-stream and urinary tract infections after seeing those rates climb during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic.
..... Hospital leaders attributed that to the pandemic, when staff members were stretched thin.
..... But nurses and others say conditions are not much better, because hospitals remain understaffed and therefore less safe.
..... Nearly a third of nurses have left direct patient care at hospitals over the past three years, [2022-2023] reported the Health Professionals and Allied Employees union.
..... About 1,700 nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick have been on strike since August, [2023] saying they are burned out from a staff shortage.
..... they support legislation that would establish staffing ratios at hospitals and other medical facilities.
..... In North Jersey, five hospitals receive an "A" grade: Englewood Hospital, Hackensack University Medical Center, Morristown Medical Center, Overlook Medical Center in Summit, St Mary's General Hospital in Passaic and The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood.

How did your local hospital do?

..... Below are Leapfrog's grades for North Jersey hospitals.

* CarePoint Health-Bayonne Medical Center: C
* CarePoint Health-Christ Hospital: Jersey City: C
* Carepoint Health-Hoboken University Medical Center: C
* CareWell Health Medical Center, East Orange: C
* Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains:B
* Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville: C
* Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston: C
* Englewood Hospital and Medical Center: A
8 Hackensack Meridian Heath (HMH): B
* HMH Mountainside Medical center, Montclair: B
* HMH Pascack Valley Medical Center, Bergen: B
* Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Hackettstown: B
* Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck: B
* Hudson Regional Hospital, Secaucus: C
* Jersey City Medical Center: B
* Morristown Medical Center: A
* Newark Beth Israel Medical Center:C
* Netwon Medical Center: B
* Overlook Medical Center, Summit: A
* Saint Clare's Hospital of Danville: A
* Saint Clare;s Hospital of Dover:B
* Saint Michael's Medical Center, Newark: C
* St. Joseph's University Medical Center, Paterson: C
* St. Joseph's Wayne Medical Center:B
* St. Mary General Hospital, Passaic: A
* The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood:A
* Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth: C
* University Hospital Newark: C
* Virtua Mount Holly Hospital: B
..... Not enough data was available to assign grades to Bergen new Bridge Medical center or Salem Medical center.

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