Holy Family Hospital’s Methuen and Haverhill Campuses Awarded “A” Safety Grades by Independent Industry Watchdog

Methuen and Haverhill, MA, November 4, 2014 – Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley in Haverhill have both been awarded “A” grades for the Fall 2014 update to the Hospital Safety Score, which rates how well hospitals protect patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections. The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered by The Leapfrog Group (Leapfrog), an independent industry watchdog. The first and only hospital safety rating to be analyzed in the peer-reviewed Journal of Patient Safety, the Score is designed to give the public information they can use to protect themselves and their families. All ten acute care hospitals in the Steward Health Care System (Steward) received “A” grade from Leapfrog.   “When it comes to caring for our patients, differentiating ourselves begins and ends with our ability to provide exceptional quality, safety and service,” said Joseph Roach, President of Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley in Haverhill. “I applaud our team for demonstrating their commitment to patient care, and for standing out among the area hospitals, by achieving the highest rating possible.”   Calculated under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 general U.S. hospitals were assigned scores this Fall.   “Patient safety needs to be a 24-7 priority for hospitals, as errors and infections are all too common and often deadly,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which administers the Hospital Safety Score. “We commend the ‘A’ hospitals, including Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley in Haverhill, for helping us to raise the standards of health care nationwide, and demonstrating that they’ve made the well-being of patients a top priority.”   Acute care hospitals in the Steward Health Care System that received an “A” include: Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley in Haverhill, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, Norwood Hospital, Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Quincy Medical Center. Leapfrog does not evaluate specialty hospitals, such as New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton, which specializes in long-term acute care.   “We are extraordinarily proud that both of Holy Family Hospital’s campuses have achieved Leapfrog A Safety Score’s for the third cycle in a row,” said Justine Carr, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Steward.  “Safety of our patients is fundamental to our mission of clinical excellence.”   In the past four years, Steward has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in new services, new physicians, significant infrastructure improvements and new clinical technology to improve the quality of care and patient experience in our hospitals.     About Holy Family Hospital  Holy Family Hospital (www.holyfamilyhospital.org) is a 383-bed acute-care hospital with two campuses, Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley in Haverhill. Both locations provide comprehensive inpatient, outpatient and 24/7 emergency services to the greater Merrimack Valley, southern New Hampshire and the New Hampshire seacoast. Holy Family Hospital’s Methuen and Haverhill campuses are proud recipients of the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission. Both campuses have also earned “A” Hospital Safety Scores from The Leapfrog Group for their performance on national standards of safety, quality and efficiency. Holy Family Hospital is part of the Steward Health Care Systems LLC, the largest integrated community care organization in New England, which combines over 3,000 physicians, 11 acute care hospitals, managed care, insurance programs, home care, an imaging operation, and a number of other post acute services, to provide the most cost effective and highest quality of integrated patient care.   About The Leapfrog Group The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) is a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.]]>