New Jersey hospitals rose from 13th to 3rd safest in the nation this spring because of their success preventing patients from falling, contracting infections and other suffering caused by avoidable mistakes, according to the newest Leapfrog Hospital Safety report card.
Of the 67 general acute-care hospitals that participated in the survey, 30 earned an “A” — six more than the last round in the fall. Two hospitals improved by two grades: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton and Saint Michael’s Medical Center in Newark.
No hospital flunked but one, CarePoint Health Christ Hospital in Jersey City, received a D. CarePoint’s trio of non-for-profit hospitals, including facilities in Bayonne and Hoboken, are facing a fiscal crisis. The state Health Department has installed a financial monitor and provided a multimillion-dollar infusion of cash to help meet payroll and other operating expenses.
A statement from CarePoint executives questioned the fairness of Christ’s barely-passing score. (Its Hoboken facility earned a B while Bayonne earned a C.)
“CarePoint Health is committed to offering its patients the highest quality care, and while we are proud of the significant improvement in LeapFrog scores at Hoboken University Medical Center and Bayonne Medical Center we do not believe that the score given to Christ Hospital accurately reflects the level of equitable, patient-centric care that is provided there,” the statement said. “The system is committed to sharing best practices between its three hospitals as well as from external partners in order to improve its scores across the board for 2025, including an anticipated A score at Hoboken University Medical Center.”
New Jersey hospital grades, like those across the nation, had dipped as the effects of the pandemic continued to hurt patient approval scores and drive up the rate of hospital infections, according to Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit made up of large employers and other health care purchasers that banded together a dozen years ago to focus on hospital safety.
“Consumers can and do use the Hospital Safety Grade to select the safest hospitals in their area,” said Linda Schwimmer, president and CEO of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, which works with Leapfrog to promote participation in the grading system. “And we know that transparent reporting on patient safety drives improvements in quality, saving lives and reducing preventable injuries.”
Hospital safety scores are starting to rebound as the pandemic’s negative impact lessens, according to Leapfrog’s national report. The three most common hospital-acquired infections — central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a serious and difficult-to-treat staph infection — are down by an average of 30% or more since 2022.
At St. Joseph’s Health, improving and maintaining high marks is a long-term effort that involves developing physician-led teams to assess each patient’s risk for post-operative infection, renal or respiratory failure, or blood clots and create a plan to prevent them, hospital officials said. Patients and their families may review these plans so they can make more informed decisions about their care, St. Joseph Health officials said.
St. Joseph’s Wayne Medical Center earned an A and St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson scored a B, according to Leapfrog’s report.
“We empower our front-line staff so that more eyes are on every detail of our patients’ care,” said Michael Cairoli, Vice President and Site Executive of St. Joseph’s Wayne Medical Center. “These extra measures ensure that patients get exactly what they need, when they need it.”
The Leapfrog Group enlisted medical experts to create the safety scores for hospitals in response to a 1999 Institute of Medicine report that found as many as 98,000 people die from preventable mistakes in hospitals each year. Leapfrog has published a report twice a year since 2012.
Shining a light on how hospitals perform has made them safer, Leapfrog officials say. Over the last decade, there were 25% fewer injuries from falls, 22% fewer cases of MRSA and 43% fewer central line-associated bloodstream infections.
People typically choose a hospital because of proximity to their home or the recommendation from their doctors, based on where they have admitting privileges. Leapfrog officials urge consumers to consult the data when making decisions about their treatment and to discuss the grades with their physicians.
Here are the grades for New Jersey hospitals:
- Atlanticare Regional Medical Center - City Campus Atlantic City: B
- Atlanticare Regional Medical Center-Mainland Campus, Pomona: B
- Bayshore Medical Center, Holmdel: A
- Cape Regional Medical Center, Cape May Court House: B
- Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell, Pennington: B
- Capital Health Regional Medical Center, Trenton: B
- CarePoint Health-Bayonne Medical Center, Bayonne: C
- CarePoint Health-Christ Hospital, Jersey City: D
- CarePoint Health-Hoboken University Medical Center: B
- Carewell Health Medical Center (East Orange General Hospital), East Orange: C
- CentraState Medical Center, Freehold: C
- Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains: B
- Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville: C
- Community Medical Center, Toms River: A
- Cooper University Hospital, Camden: C
- Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston: B
- Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood: A
- Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack: A
- Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Hackettstown: B
- Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck: A
- Hudson Regional Hospital, Secaucus: C
- Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington: A
- Inspira Medical Center, Elmer: A
- Inspira Medical Center, Mullica Hill: A
- Inspira Medical Center Vineland: A
- Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital: A
- Jefferson Stratford Hospital: B
- Jefferson Washington Township Hospital, Turnersville: A
- Jersey City Medical Center: B
- Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune: A
- JFK University Medical Center, Edison: B
- Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch: A
- Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, Lakewood: A
- Morristown Medical Center, Morristown: A
- Mountainside Medical Center, Montclair: C
- Newark Beth Israel Medical Center: C
- Newton Medical Center: B
- Ocean University Medical Center, Brick: A
- Old Bridge Medical Center: B
- Overlook Medical Center, Summit: A
- Pascack Valley Medical Center, Westwood: B
- Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen: A
- Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, Plainsboro: B
- Raritan Bay Medical Center of Perth Amboy: A
- Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank: B
- Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick: C
- Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton: A
- Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway: A
- Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, Somerville: B
- Saint Clare’s Hospital of Denville: B
- Saint Clare’s Hospital of Dover: A
- Saint Michael’s Medical Center, Newark: A
- Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick: A
- Shore Medical Center, Somers Point: B
- Southern Ocean Medical Center, Manahawkin: B
- St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, Paterson: B
- St. Joseph’s Wayne Medical Center: A
- St. Luke’s Warren Campus, Phillipsburg: A
- St. Mary’s General Hospital, Passaic: A
- The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood: A
- Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth: C
- University Hospital, Newark: C
- Virtua Marlton Hospital: A
- Virtua Memorial Hospital, Mount Holly: C
- Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Camden: B
- Virtua Voorhees Hospital: A
- Virtua Willingboro Hospital: B
Two hospitals did not participate in the survey. Bergen New Bridge Medical Center did not have enough available data to determine a grade, and Inspira Medical Center Mannington, formerly Salem Medical Center, was recently acquired by Inspira and was not eligible for a grade in this round, according to the institute.
Leapfrog grades 3,000 hospitals twice a year based on 30 data points, including five based on a patient satisfaction survey that measure effective communications with doctors, nurses and other professionals involved with developing discharge plans, according to the report. In this latest round, patient experience reports showed the first sign of improvement since the pandemic began, “but the measures are still far from pre-pandemic levels,” according to a statement from Leapfrog.
Utah, Virginia, New Jersey, Colorado and Rhode Island ranked in the top five for the best scores. Pennsylvania ranked seventh.
The Allentown-Bethlehem- Easton, PA.-New Jersey metropolitan region also ranked the highest in the country. This is the first time Leapfrog has graded metropolitan areas, defined as a population base of 500,0000 people or more.
“While today’s results are promising, patient safety remains a crisis-level hazard in health care,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Some hospitals are much better than others at protecting patients from harm, and that’s why we make the Hospital Safety Grade available to the public and why we encourage all hospitals to focus more attention on safety.”
“When we look at these positive trends, we see lives saved—and that is gratifying,” Binder said.
Find the full report on every hospital at HospitalSafetyGrade.org.
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Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on X @SusanKLivio.
