Magnolia given ‘D’ Hospital Safety Grade and issues response to report

Magnolia Regional Health Center has responded to their recent ‘D’ safety grade that they were given by the Leapfrog Group, a national company that scores hospitals in several areas of patient safety.

According to Leapfrog, “The Leapfrog Hospital Survey is a free, annual survey that assesses hospital performance on national measures of safety, quality, and efficiency of both inpatient and outpatient care. These measures are of specific interest to health care purchasers and consumers, and cover a broad range of hospital processes, outcomes, and structures in many clinical areas such as maternity and intensive care.”

MRHC scored well below average in areas such as the amount of blood infections in patients, deaths from serious treatable conditions and dangerous bed sores. The hospital scored above average in areas such as responsiveness of hospital staff and communication with nurses.

You can see the complete hospital review here.

After reviewing the report from Leapfrog, the Mississippi News Group requested a comment from MRHC via their Director of Public Relations, Ben Tucker. You can read their response to the Leapfrog evaluation below.

“The leadership of Magnolia Regional Health Center is fully confident in the quality and safety of the care we deliver. We recognize that our recently released Leapfrog rating and CMS Star rating are disappointing and show significant opportunity for improvement. We have been taking, and continue to take, this very seriously, and we are seeing signs of improvement in many areas. 

Having been part of our community since 1965, we believe the trust and confidence our patients, team members and community place in us is our greatest asset and responsibility. We are working transparently, strategically and diligently to improve key quality and safety measures that are within our operational control and that most impact our ratings. 

It is important to know that we do not believe the recent Leapfrog report reflects the passion and tireless dedication our physicians, nurses and other caregivers demonstrate each and every day.

It is also important to note that the ratings announced in April of 2020 are based on historical performance data gathered in 2017 and 2019 – prior to our new leadership team being established, our new strategic plan being adopted and our continuous improvement journey being launched. If ratings were based on 2020 data, we would see improvement in our overall ratings. Because these ratings use historical data that is sometimes several years old, it takes years for public ratings to improve accordingly. 

There are numerous factors that makeup highly complex Leapfrog and CMS Star ratings beyond performance alone. As part of our work to advance quality and our new strategic plan, we are:• Actively implementing a new strategic plan that includes a focus on improving clinical quality and overall experience for our patients and team members in a measurable way. • Utilizing physician led quality improvement teams to enhance patient safety, yielding in significant improvements over the last year.• Advancing our commitment to quality by elevating safety as critical to our daily work. We have implemented new standardized safety practices and protocols to improve the way we share information throughout our organization, ensuring safer, higher quality care for every patient.• Equipping our people for success. We have and continue to implement new training for our employees and providers to ensure they are utilizing the latest evidence-based practices to better meet the diverse needs of the patients who depend on us. 

While our journey to achieve higher CMS Star and Leapfrogratings will take several years, we are well on our way—and we are highly confident in our ability to be successful. Our community can and should feel confident that the care they receive at Magnolia Regional Health Center will be safe, convenient and high quality. We are fully committed to transparency and accountability both inside our organization and in the community. Just as we have always done, we will continue to make regular public updates focused on quality and safety available to our community and to regulators.”