Trident Medical Center Earns Third Consecutive ‘A’ for Patient Safety for the Spring 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Guide

Today, Trident Medical Center was awarded an ‘A’ from The Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. It is the hospital’s third consecutive ‘A’. The designation recognizes Trident Medical Center’s efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care.

The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization committed to improving health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers. The Safety Grade assigns an ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.

Trident Health’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lee Biggs said patients are the real beneficiaries of the hospital’s ‘A’ grade, “Our goal is to consistently provide high quality care. As we see increasingly sicker patients come to our hospital the ‘A’ grade is evidence that all of the hard work our physicians and clinicians do every day is paying off.I’m proud of the work of our colleagues at Trident Medical Center.”

Developed under the guidance of a national panel of experts, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

Trident Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Todd Gallati said the foundation of the hospital’s “A” grade is built on an intense focus on patient care.“I couldn’t be any more proud our physicians and clinicians than I am as a result of earning our third consecutive ‘A’ grade.They are the ones who are at the bedside making decisions on what is best for their patients.The grade is a reflection of their compassion toward the ones they care for.”

“Our goal is to inform patients about local hospitals with the best safety measures in place and the strongest records,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Every hospital can earn an ‘A’ grade, and we’re proud of the hospitals that are committed to making an effort to protect patients from harm.”

To see Trident Medical Center’s full grade details, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.

About Trident Health

For more than 40 years staff and physicians at Trident Health have provided acute healthcare services to families in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. Services are provided through its two hospitals, Trident Medical Center and Summerville Medical Center; two freestanding emergency departments, Moncks Corner Medical Center and Centre Pointe Emergency; and two urgent care centers, CareNow Urgent Care Goose Creek and CareNow Urgent Care North Charleston. Both hospitals have received top ranking as Joint Commission Top Hospitals for Quality Performance and are Joint Commission Certified for Advanced Heart Failure and Advanced Primary Stroke Centers. Trident Health is one of the South Carolina Lowcountry’s largest employers with more than 2,500 employees and has a medical staff of nearly 500 physicians. In 2018 it provided $143.3 million in uncompensated care and paid $47.9 million in local, state and federal taxes. To learn more about how Trident Health is growing to meet the needs of our growing region and how to join our team go to www.tridenthealthsystem.com.

About The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog
Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.