BRG earns 'A' for patient safety...again

Every year, at least 250,000 people die from avoidable medical errors. Today, these errors are the third leading cause of death, behind only heart disease and cancer.* And until just a few years ago, it was incredibly difficult for consumers to get information about where those errors were happening.

In 2012, the Leapfrog Group’s Hospital Safety Score Program began grading Baton Rouge hospitals on patient safety with easy-to-understand letter grades. That year, Baton Rouge General was the only hospital in the area to receive an A grade for patient safety.

Since then, Baton Rouge General has received an A every year.

These grades indicate how well more than 2,600 hospitals across the country keep patients safe, grading items from patients’ chances for getting to get infections to how much the organization encourages patient safety.

Most importantly, though – Leapfrog’s grading system helps you make the best choice to keep your family safe.

An analysis shows that even hospitals with B ratings could save more than 4,000 lives per year if they met the standards we are at, and more than 33,000 lives could be saved if all hospitals performed at an A-grade level.

Not many hospitals in this region have received an A rating in each of the past 6 years, which makes our achievement even more outstanding. This doesn’t mean we’ve reached our goal. But it does means we value patient safety, and that we’ll continue to work toward the best ways to keep our community healthy.

When it comes to your family’s safety, anything other than an ‘A’ just isn’t good enough.

*Johns Hopkins research study, 2016:
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/476636183/death-certificates-undercount-toll-of-medical-errors?