Photo: Intermountain Health Cedar City Hospital in Utah was recognized as a “Straight A” facility in a recent safety report released by the Leapfrog Group. | Photo Credit: Intermountain Health
By Lindsey Coulter
WASHINGTON — The Leapfrog Group last week released its biannual Hospital Safety Grade report, which assigns and “A” through “F” rating to all general hospitals in the United States based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections. According to the organization, these largely preventable problems harm one in four hospital inpatients and cause as many as 250,000 deaths each year.
“The Leapfrog Group was founded 25 years ago to improve American health care through transparency, and the Safety Grade [report] has been a cornerstone of that effort,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, in a statement. “As we mark this milestone year, for the first time we’re looking at how consolidation impacts patient safety. We want to understand if system leadership accelerates patient safety or not.”
The Leapfrog analysis found that 90% of hospitals with a fall 2025 Safety Grade are part of a health system. Among hospitals that received an “A” rating, the chance of being system affiliated is slightly higher, at 94%. This also holds true for “Straight A” hospitals, which have earned an “A” grade for more than two years in a row — with 95% of the 358 Straight A hospitals part of health systems.
Outstanding Facilities
All 11 hospitals that have earned an “A” for every grading round since 2012 are affiliated with health systems. The 10 health systems with the highest total number of A hospitals and Straight A hospitals are:
- HCA Healthcare, with 51 “A” Hospitals, including 18 “Straight A” Hospitals
- CommonSpirit Health, with 49 “A” Hospitals, including 24 “Straight A” Hospitals
- AdventHealth, with 29 “A” Hospitals, including 21 “Straight A” Hospitals
- Kaiser Permanente with 27 “A” Hospitals, including 12 “Straight A” Hospitals
- AdvocateHealth with 24 “A” Hospitals, including 1 “Straight A” Hospital
- Prime Healthcare Services with 24 “A” Hospitals, including 11 “Straight A” Hospitals
- Defense Health Agencies with 18 “A” Hospitals
- LifePoint Health with 16 “A” Hospitals, including two “Straight A” Hospitals
- Northwell Health with 15 “A” Hospitals, including three “Straight A” Hospitals
- Sutter Health with 15 “A” Hospitals, including three “Straight A” Hospitals
State Ratings
Leapfrog ranks states based on the percentage of hospitals that earned an A in the current Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. Findings from the fall 2025 state rankings include:
The top five states for percentage of “A” hospitals are Utah, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut and North Carolina. Utah ranks No. 1 for the fifth consecutive Safety Grade round. Iowa, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming have no “A” rated hospitals.
More Information
The report is updated each fall, and grades are determined by public, peer-reviewed methodology, calculated by top patient-safety experts under the guidance of a National Expert Panel. Leapfrog is further requesting public comments on proposed updates to two Safety Grade policies through Dec. 14. View the planned policy changes and submit a public comment here.
Leapfrog also just finalized its planned updated to the 2026 and 2027 Safety Grade methodology, incorporating insights from the recent public comment period. View the final updates and response to public comments here.