DOWNEY – Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center, as well as the other 13 Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Southern California, received an “A” on the Hospital Safety Score from The Leapfrog Group, an independent industry watchdog. This marks the second year all Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospitals were awarded the highest grade.

“Our focus and commitment is patient safety,” said Binesh Batra, MD, Area Medical Director. “We attribute this designation to the powerful combination of infection control surveillance, high level technology and the personal attention our physicians and staff show our patients.”

Calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single “A” through “F” score, representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 U.S. general hospitals were assigned scores in spring 2014, with less than one-third receiving an “A” grade.

“Safety should come first for our families when we pick a hospital, because errors and infections are common and deadly,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which produces the Hospital Safety Score. “No hospital is perfect, but we congratulate the Board, clinicians, administration, and staff of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California medical centers for achieving an “A” and showing us that you made the well-being of your patients your top priority.”

The Hospital Safety Score is fully transparent, and its website offers a full analysis of the data and methodology used in determining grades. It is the first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the Journal of Patient Safety. The Score is free to the public and designed to give consumers information they can use to protect themselves and their families when facing a hospital stay.

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Published: May 22, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 06