Baton Rouge General Receives Another ‘A’ for Patient Safety

BATON ROUGE, La. – Today, Baton Rouge General (BRG) announced it has received an ‘A’ for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group. BRG has received the highest rating 9 of out 10 years. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade scores hospitals on how well they protect patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. Only 18 hospitals in Louisiana and two in Baton Rouge received an ‘A’ rating in the spring report.

“The ‘A’ rating from Leapfrog reflects a culture of safety in which we are intentionally focused on being one step ahead of potential mistakes before they happen,” said Edgardo Tenreiro, BRG’s President and CEO. “Our job is to prevent errors, catch near misses and continuously improve the way we care for our patients.”

Leapfrog Group’s Hospital Safety Grades program uses up to 27 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources to generate a report card with an A, B, C, D or F letter grade, indicating the hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors. The hospital safety grades are assigned to more than 2,700 facilities across the country.

Analysis shows that more than 50,000 lives could be saved nationwide if all hospitals performed at an A-grade level, and that patients who are treated at C-rated hospitals have an 87% greater risk of avoidable death than those at an A-rated hospital. People who go to hospitals with D- and F-grades have a 91% greater chance of avoidable death.

BRG was also recently named one of nine hospitals in Louisiana to be nationally recognized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for having the lowest rates of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in the U.S. Baton Rouge General was one of the 332 hospitals nationwide to receive a CAUTI score of zero. CAUTIs are one of the most common infections a person can contract in the hospital and can increase the length of stay by 2-4 days.

For more information, visit BRgeneral.org.

About Baton Rouge General Medical Center
Baton Rouge General Medical Center is the area’s first community hospital with over 600 licensed beds between three campuses. Baton Rouge General opened its doors in 1900, and has provided the Greater Baton Rouge community with high-quality healthcare for generations. An accredited teaching hospital since 1991, Baton Rouge General is affiliated with several medical school programs, and offers other medical education programs, including a School of Nursing, School of Radiologic Technology, Family Medicine Residency Program, Internal Medicine Residency Program, and Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. For more information, visit BRGeneral.org, find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/BatonRougeGeneral and follow us on Twitter @BRGeneral and Instagram @batonrougegeneral.

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