When seeking medical care, there's an assumption that all hospitals provide patients with a safe environment to have procedures and to heal. A high overall quality of care, with an emphasis on patient safety, should be the norm in hospitals nationwide.

The truth, unfortunately, is that there are hospitals that let their patients down, sometimes with tragic results.

According to LeapFrog Hospital Safety Grade, these tend to be hospitals where teams don't work well together or lack good leadership that ensures patient safety is the number one priority.

When environments such as this exist within a hospital, one mistake can steamroll into patients experiencing dangerous complications, slower recovery times, and even unnecessary deaths in some instances.

The Statistics Are Alarming

According to their study:

  • Upwards of 200,000 people die every year from hospital errors, injuries, accidents, and infections
  • Every year, 1 out of every 31 patients develops an infection while in the hospital, an infection that didn’t have to happen.
  • A Medicare patient has a 1 in 4 chance of experiencing injury, harm, or death when admitted to a hospital
  • Today alone, more than 500 people will die because of a preventable hospital error
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Because most hospital errors can be prevented, LeapFrog utilizes up to 30 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to create their Hospital Safety Grade. Factors such as medical errors, problems with surgery, safety problems, practices in place to prevent errors, and hospital staff are considered.

Their hospital grades have become the gold standard for hospital safety rankings in America. They not only provide consumers with crucial information that allows them to make informed choices on where to receive care, but they also show hospitals the area(s) in which they need to improve.

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Wisconsin Hospital Safety Grades

The most recent hospital safety grades, which were published in the spring of 2024, had Wisconsin ranked #38 overall in the country for hospital safety.

While the state would likely want a higher overall ranking, one encouraging thing is that no hospitals in Wisconsin earned anything lower than a 'C' grade, which is not the case in other states.

RELATED: Now 4 Minnesota Hospitals Have ‘D’ Grades In Patient Safety

Wisconsin had 8 facilities that really shined, earning an 'A' grade, which makes them currently the safest hospitals in the entire state for patients.

The 8 Wisconsin Hospitals That Earned An 'A' In Patient Safety

1. Aurora Medical Center Grafton, at 975 Port Washington Road in Grafton.

2. Aurora Medical Center of Washington County, at 1032 E. Sumner Street in Hartford

3. Bellin Memorial Hospital, at 744 S. Webster Avenue in Green Bay

4. Beloit Memorial Hospital, at 1969 W. Hart Road in Beloit

5. Mayo Clinic Health System-Eau Claire, at 1221 Whipple Street in Eau Claire

6. Mayo Clinic Health System-La Crosse, at 700 West Avenue S. in La Crosse

7. Monroe Clinic Hospital, at 515 22nd Avenue in Monroe

8. ProHealth Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital, at 791 Summit Ave in Oconomowoc

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You can see all the grades of Wisconsin hospitals included in this survey received by clicking the button below. Just search by state and select “WI" in the drop-down menu.

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