These Are the Safest Hospitals in NY, NJ and CT: Study

It is important -- if one has the choice -- to consider the hospital you want for medical care.

The hospital you choose generally plays a part in your risk of dying or your chances of recovery. Upwards of 250,000 people die every year from preventable errors in hospitals, according to The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit health care watchdog group.

With this in mind, The Leapfrog Group, issues hospital safety grades biannually to nearly 3,000 hospitals in the United States as a form of measuring their overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.

Leapfrog defines patient safety as "how hospitals and other health care organizations protect their patients from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections."

On Tuesday, the watchdog group published its Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades for spring 2022. The grades, similar to academic grades, range from "A" to "F" -- with "A" being considered by Leapfrog as the safest hospitals.

Here are the safest hospitals in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, according to Leapfrog. You may want to keep this list on hand when considering where to go for medical care in the tri-state area.

'A' HOSPITALS IN NEW YORK

• Aurelia Osborn Fox Memorial Hospital
• Catholic Health System - Kenmore Mercy Hospital
• Catholic Health System - Sisters of Charity Hospital
• Guthrie Corning Hospital
• Lenox Hill Hospital
• Mather Hospital
• North Shore University Hospital
• Northern Dutchess Hospital
• NYC Health and Hospitals Queens
• NYC Health Hospitals - Metropolitan
• NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn
• NYU Langone Hospitals
• NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island
• Putnam Hospital
• St. Anthony Community Hospital
• St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center
• The Mount Sinai Hospital
• UPMC Chautauqua
• White Plains Hospital

'A' HOSPITALS IN NEW JERSEY

• Bayshore Medical Center
• Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell
• Chilton Medical Center
• Englewood Hospital and Medical Center
• Hackensack Meridian Health Palisades Medical Center
• Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center
• Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center
• Hackensack Meridian Old Bridge Medical Center
• Hackensack Meridian Raritan Bay Medical Center
• Hunterdon Medical Center
• Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill
• Inspira Medical Center Vineland
• Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital
• Jefferson Stratford Hospital
• Jefferson Washington Township Hospital
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center
• Monmouth Medical Center
• Morristown Medical Center
• Newton Medical Center
• Overlook Medical Center
• Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center
• Riverview Medical Center
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway
• Saint Clare's Hospital of Denville
• Saint Michael's Medical Center
• Saint Peter's University Hospital
• St. Luke's Warren Campus
• St. Mary's General Hospital
• The Valley Hospital
• Virtua Voorhees Hospital

'A' HOSPITALS IN CONNECTICUT

• Charlotte Hungerford Hospital
• Day Kimball Hospital
• Hartford Hospital
• Johnson Memorial Hospital
• Middlesex Hospital
• Stamford Health
• The Hospital of Central Connecticut
• The William W. Backus Hospital
• University of Connecticut Health Center, John Dempsey Hospital

In order to compile its list, Leapfrog uses more than 30 national performance metrics from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other data sources. This data, when combined, reveals a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors, according to The Leapfrog Group.

On the same day that Leapfrog announced its spring 2022 Hospital Safety Grades, the watchdog group also revealed that the grades highlight the decline in patient experience during the pandemic-era.

"Recent studies have shown that the pandemic has reversed years of progress on patient safety efforts. The updated data included in the Safety Grade, some of which reflects a pandemic-era timeframe, heighten these findings and demonstrate how patient care worsened due to strains on the health care system and workforce," the watchdog group said.

To view the rest of the hospital list and the grades each medical care location received, click here.