Brooklyn Boro

Safety survey: Only 1 Brooklyn hospital received an ‘A’ grade

1 'B' and all the rest are ‘Cs’ and ‘Ds’

May 4, 2023 Mary Frost
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NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, in Sunset Park, was the only hospital in Brooklyn to receive an “A” grade in the respected Leapfrog Group’s 2023 survey of hospital safety and quality. And just one hospital in the borough received a “B” — New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope. 

The remainder of hospitals in Brooklyn received “Cs” (eight hospitals) and “Ds” (three hospitals.)

The Leapfrog Group, which has been collecting and analyzing hospital data for 20 years, released its 2023 hospital grades on Wednesday. The rankings reflect a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.

“As the only A-rated hospital in Brooklyn, our patients can feel confident they are receiving the highest quality of care. Maintaining the exceptionalism that has come to define our institution requires the collective energy, innovation, and diligence from our staff,” Bret J. Rudy, MD, executive vice president and chief of hospital operations at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn told the Brooklyn Eagle.

The Brooklyn Eagle reached out to other hospitals rated in the survey, but did not hear back by press time.

Hospitals in Brooklyn receiving a “C” grade include SUNY Downstate University Hospital; Maimonides Medical Center; Mount Sinai Brooklyn; New York Community Hospital; NYC Health and Hospitals Kings County; NYC Health and Hospitals Woodhull; The Brooklyn Hospital Center; and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.

Brooklyn hospitals receiving “D” scores include Brookdale Hospital Medical Center; Interfaith Medical Center; and NYC Health and Hospitals – South Brooklyn Health.

(Readers can research their own hospitals at hospitalsafetygrade.org)

NYC hospitals overall need to improve

The data released by Leapfrog paint a somewhat problematic picture of hospital quality and safety across not only Brooklyn, but all of New York City. Only three hospitals in the city received an “A” rating, and two of them are run by NYU: NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn and NYU Langone Hospitals on First Avenue in Manhattan). The third “A” rated hospital is Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, in Queens. 

Overall seven NYC hospitals received a “B,” 26 were rated “C” and eight got a “D.” (VA hospitals aren’t graded at this time.)

Hospitals across the country have been under enormous strain over the past several years and are coping with a plethora of economic, health and staffing woes. Several hospitals in Brooklyn recently settled a strike by nurses belonging to the New York State Nurses Association. On Thursday hundreds of NYSNA members picketed in the rain outside NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital to protest what they said were cuts to patient care and staffing levels. Their union contract expired on April 30th.

What’s in the survey?

Leapfrog’s expert panel, which includes experts from institutions like Harvard, Stanford, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and others, looks at more than 30 safety indicators. Some are as simple as hand-washing by hospital staff and responsiveness to patients, while others run the gamut of safety measures —  from infection control, to using a computer to prevent mistakes when ordering medications or accidentally leaving foreign objects in a patient’s body during surgery.

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