Healthcare transparency group awards B grade to Blount Memorial Hospital

Excitement about grades isn’t just for students and parents. Leaders of Blount Memorial Hospital were happy to receive a B for patient safety on an assessment from the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit that bills itself as a healthcare transparency watchdog, for spring of 2024.

The group provides hospitals with grades calculated using measures like the number of surgical site infections incurred after treatment, the existence of safety problems such as bed sores and medication administration.

The “B” grade represents an improvement over 2023, when the hospital received a “C” in both the fall and spring.

Blount Memorial this spring had a perfect record on handwashing, according to Leapfrog; the average, according to information on the nonprofit’s site, is 78.65 out of 100.

The hospital performed similarly well on a category marked ‘communication about discharge,’ referring to staff discussions with patients regarding their treatment once they leave Blount Memorial.

“Patient safety is — and has always been — the primary goal of Blount Memorial Hospital, and everyone from our Blount Memorial family is committed to providing a safe environment for patients, their visitors and their families. We will continue to provide the best-possible care to this community as we continue our journey to an ‘A’ grade,” interim hospital CEO Jonathan Smith said in a May press release.

The hospital’s only below average scores were related to doctors ordering medications by writing out prescriptions, rather than through computers, and staff working together to prevent errors.