You can still be in excellent health, but as we get older, we do wind up spending some time in the hospital. It's not my favorite place to go to hang out but I do have some experience. Lately I've been running across some interesting information on a safety ranking system for hospitals.

Leapfrog's Hospital Safety Grid

I found the website hospitalsafetygrid.org, run by The Leapfrog Group. According to their website, they have been working for two decades toward "making the health care system better, improving the choices patients can make and preventing needless deaths."

The great thing about this website is it will give you a list of hospitals in order of excellence and safety for your zip code, city, your state, or hospital. It can organize the list by grade in ascending or descending order, by distance or name.

young hospital workers in scrubs
michaeljung
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Each hospital receives a score for infections. Problems with surgery? Safety problems. Practices to prevent errors. And doctors, nurses and hospital staff. If you want to get into the “gory details” there's a place you can click for that as well for each hospital.

Let's look at the bottom 4 hospitals in Washington

University of Washington Medical Center - Northwest Campus

Google Maps
Google Maps
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1550 N. 115th Street Seattle, WA 98133-8401

The interesting thing about this rating is that this is the hospital that has been my family's go to hospital since the 1960s. My mother used to volunteer in this hospital. It is a part of the University of Washington Medical School so yes; it is a teaching hospital.

And yes, there is some cutting-edge research going on in this hospital as well. The grade? Low “C” for worse than average infections, lack of ICU doctors, and harmful events and falls.  Ranked 3.1 on Google.

Valley Medical Center

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Google Maps
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400 S. 43rd Street PO Box 50010, Renton, WA 98058-5010

This hospital scores in the low “C” range for low performance with surgery issues, bed sores, collapsed lungs, handwashing, and sepsis. Rated 2.9 on google.

Cascade Valley Hospital
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330 S. Stillaguamish Avenue, Arlington, WA 98223-1642

One of two hospitals to score a "D". The grading from Leapfrog indicates concerns with safe hospital practices such as handwashing and medicine administration, along with safety concerns for patient falls. Rated 2.7 on Google reviews.

Ironically this hospital has had its grades change wildly over the past two years - in 2022 it was rated A, and in 2021 rated C.

Providence Regional Medical Center Everett
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1700 13th Street, Everett, WA 98201-1689

The lowest scoring hospital on the list with a “D”. Like Cascade Valley, they are rated poorly for patient safety and hospital safe practices. Their report card is also highly negative for doctors and staff. Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett is rated 2.9 on Google user reviews.

So, what hospital do I use now? Generally -

Central Washington Hospital (Confluence Health)

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Google Maps
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1201 S. Miller Street, Wenatchee, WA 98801-1948

They rank on the list with a high “C” grade. I've had a couple of stays at Central Washington Hospital, and I personally have found their doctors and staff to be rock stars.

 

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