Valley Baptist Health System Receives an “A” for Patient Safety in Fall 2017 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade

HARLINGEN/BROWNSVILLE – 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, and both Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville and Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen were two of 832 hospitals awarded an “A” for their commitment to keeping patients safe.

“Consistently high scores from Leapfrog reflect the efficiency and teamwork demonstrated by everyone throughout the many departments at Valley Baptist-Brownsville every day,” said Leslie Bingham, CEO of VBMC-Brownsville. “Positive patient outcomes are our ultimate priority, so our ‘A’ gives both our patients and employees reason to celebrate.”

Valley Baptist-Brownsville also received “A” grades from Leapfrog in October and April 2016, and October and April 2015.

Manny Vela, CEO for Valley Baptist Health System and Valley Baptist-Harlingen, said the “A” ratings at both facilities are testaments to the hard-working employees and medical staff at both hospitals.

“The ‘A’ grades from Leapfrog for both Valley Baptist-Harlingen and Valley Baptist-Brownsville are a demonstration of our commitment to providing high-quality healthcare to our community,” Vela said. “Recognition of this sort does not happen by chance. It is possible only through the dedication and tireless work of our nurses, physicians, and ancillary staff at both facilities who treat our patients as if they were family.”

“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 both Valley Baptist-Harlingen and Valley Baptist-Brownsville 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 full grades for both Valley Baptist-Brownsville and Valley Baptist-Harlingen, 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.