For The Journal

New Hospital Safety Scores, which assign letter grades to hospitals nationwide and provide a picture of patient safety in the U.S. health care system, were announced this week by The Leapfrog Group, a national patient safety watchdog.

Mercy Regional Medical Center was one of only 798 hospitals in the nation to receive an ‘A’ grade, ranking among the safest hospitals in the United States. This is the eighth consecutive ‘A’ grade Mercy has received since the fall of 2012.

“We are humbled by the national recognition from Leapfrog and attribute our success to the culture of excellence that our providers, nurses, staff and leaders have created over the years,” said Bill Plauth, M.D., Mercy’s chief medical officer. “To achieve this, it takes all of us—physicians, allied health professionals, nurses, staff, operations and senior leaders—to create a culture where evidence-based practices are adopted, patient-centered care is the focus, and error prevention strategies become practiced habits, performed as intended, consistently over time.”