Culver City Observer -

Many hospitals in California received top scores but the only hospital in Culver City didn’t make the grade in patient safety, according to a report released this week by The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog group.

Southern California Hospital at Culver City received a “D” in the Spring 2022 Hospital Safety Grades report, put out by the Leapfrog Group which related that the COVID-19 pandemic reversed years of progress in patient safety.

"The health care workforce has faced unprecedented levels of pressure during the pandemic, and as a result, patients' experience with their care appears to have suffered," Leapfrog Group president Leah Binder said in a news release. "We commend the workforce for their heroic efforts these past few years and now strongly urge hospital leadership to recommit to improved care — from communication to responsiveness — and get back on track with patient safety outcomes."

A total of 91 hospitals in California received an "A" grade, 58 hospitals received a "B" grade, 107 hospitals received a "C" grade and 19 hospitals received a "D" grade. Five hospitals received an "F" grade.

Among the Westside hospitals receiving an “A” were UCLA Medical Center of Santa Monica, Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, Keck Hospital of USC , and Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood

The “B” hospitals included University of California Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital.

The world-renowned Cedars-Sinai Medical Center received a “C” grades along with Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital, Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, and West Los Angeles Medical Center.

The five “F” hospitals were Barstow Community Hospital, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia, Pacifica Hospital in Sun Valley, Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Brawley, and San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp

The letter grades were assigned to nearly 3,000 U.S general hospitals and were based on more than 30 measures of patient safety. Leapfrog says its hospital rating system focuses solely on a hospital's ability to protect patients from preventable errors, accidents, injuries and infections.

Included in the 30 measures are five that research has shown to directly affect patient outcomes, but can be improved with greater communication between caregivers and patients. They included central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, infections from colon surgery, MRSA (Staphylococcus) blood laboratory-identified events, and facility-wide inpatient diarrhea events.