The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit health care ratings organization, today released new Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades. The Safety Grade assigns letter grades of A, B, C, D and F to hospitals nationwide based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms. Southwest Medical Center was one of 832 awarded an “A” for its commitment to keeping patients safe and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S.

“We care about providing excellent quality outcomes for all patients and visitors at our hospital and care centers,” Southwest Medical Center President and CEO, Bill Ermann, said. “This ‘A’ rating is a reflection of our whole team’s effort to provide the very best quality of care to patients in our community.”

“It takes consistent, unwavering dedication to patients to achieve the highest standards of patient safety. An ‘A’ Safety Grade recognizes hospitals for this accomplishment,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We congratulate the clinicians, Board, management and staff of Southwest Medical Center for showing the country what it means to put patient safety first.”

Developed under the guidance of a Blue Ribbon National Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

To see Southwest Medical Center’s full grade, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade on Twitter and Facebook.