California’s Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center has earned a failing grade on a report card from the non-profit health care quality monitoring group Leapfrog. The hospital was one of only 25 nationwide to receive an F mark in the study.
According Leapfrog, the hospital performed insufficiently in its efforts to prevent medical errors, patient infections and even deaths. The grade has, however, sparked a hot debate over the validity of Leapfrog’s score.
Reps from Reagan note that wide variance in hospital surveys as one reason to take the F mark with a grain of salt:
“While we appreciate Leapfrog’s efforts to provide important hospital safety information to the public, the problem with nearly all of the hospital report cards promoted by various organizations is that there is no consistency. The same hospital can rank high on one report card and low on another report card.”
Missy Danforth of Leapfrog says, however, that they are merely providing facts to the public:
“We think this is an important piece of information for those people to use before they decide which hospital they’re going to choose for themselves or their family,” said Danfoth.
by RTT Staff Writer
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