French Hospital Receives Exceptional Safety Scores from Leapfrog

French Hospital Medical Center (FHMC), a Dignity Health Central Coast hospital, is pleased to share that it has received a letter grade of 'A� on the most recent rating report from The Leapfrog Group, which focuses on patient safety.

French Hospital is one of only 72 hospitals in the nation to have received an “A” rating since 2012.  These ratings are a testament to Dignity Health Central Coast’s ongoing commitment to providing highest level of care and compassion to the patients we serve.

The group, one of the nation’s leading hospital ratings organizations, awards hospitals based on safety, quality of care, and value metrics. The Leapfrog Group scores an “A” to hospitals that achieve the best hospital safety performance score, using a set of 28 national measures. The Leapfrog Group provides consumers ranked statistics and informative data for selecting a medical center. The premise of the group is to provide accessibility to the public while allowing medical facilities the opportunity to measure improvements.  Dignity Health actively participates in the program, and the process offers a calculable opportunity for standardized advancements in the care, safety and quality of our patients. 

“These publicly reported ratings empower patients and allow them to make more informed decisions about the facilities in which they receive their care based on hospital performance,” says Gene Keller, M.D., Vice President of Quality, Dignity Health Central Coast. “Our dedicated team of physicians, employees, and volunteers provide the highest levels of quality and excellence for our patients and we are proud of The Leapfrog Group’s acknowledgment of these efforts.” 

All data in the Hospital Safety Score are a combination of publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and voluntarily submitted information by the hospital on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey. All data are used to generate a simple letter grade from A to F. The score includes twenty-eight safety measures. Ten of the measures are process and structural measures and represent fifty percent of the score. Eighteen of the measures are outcome measures and represent the final fifty percent of the score.

Leapfrog’s hospital safety scores are released twice a year and are calculated under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel.  The ratings represent a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. A full analysis of the data and methodology used is available at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org.      

Dignity Health Central Coast hospitals continuously strive to provide renowned care, advanced technology, and compassion throughout our spectrum of services.  Our commitment to excellence and our levels of skillful practice continue to distinguish us as leaders in the industry. 

About French Hospital Medical Center

French Hospital Medical Center, located in San Luis Obispo, California, has been named one of the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics, and is rated among the top hospitals in the nation for cardiac, orthopedic and GI services. French Hospital has achieved prestigious designation as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission. The Copeland, Forbes, and Rossi Cardiac Care Center provides the latest innovative cardiac and imaging technology. The hospital is home to the unique Hearst Cancer Resource Center offering free education, resources and support to cancer patients and their families. In addition, an expansion and modernization project is underway at French Hospital, including the new Copeland Health Education Pavilion, which provides the community access to comprehensive health care education resources free of charge.   French is a Dignity Health Central Coast hospital which also includes Arroyo Grande Community Hospital in Arroyo Grande, CA, Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, CA, St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, CA and St. John’s Pleasant Valley in Camarillo, CA. Dignity Health Central Coast is an integrated network of top quality hospitals, physicians from the most prestigious medical schools, and comprehensive outpatient services including primary care offices, premier ambulatory surgery centers, technologically-advanced laboratories and imaging centers and a full service home health agency; all recognized for quality, safety and service.  Each hospital is supported by an active philanthropic Foundation to help meet the growing health care needs of our communities.