OCH Regional Medical Center has received an “A” rating for patient safety by The Leapfrog Group, making it one of 798 of the nation’s safest hospitals and one of 12 in the state to reach this top level. The Leapfrog Group is a national patient safety watchdog and assigns A, B, C, D and F letter grades to hospitals nationwide based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

“This ‘A’ rating from Leapfrog is a reflection of the hard work by our entire staff and our commitment to making patient safety a priority,” said OCH Administrator/CEO Richard Hilton.  “Our Medical Center is the only facility in Northeast Mississippi that holds the prestigious International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2008 certification, which demonstrates, through continuing quality process improvements, how we strive daily to minimize risk of injury and to deliver safe, effective high-quality patient care,” continued Hilton.

Developed under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 30 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient safety experts, peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. For the first time, the Hospital Safety Score includes five measures of patient-reported experience with the hospital as well as two of the most common infections, C.diff and MRSA.

“Avoidable deaths in hospitals should be the number one concern of our health care leaders. Hospitals that earn an ‘A’ from Leapfrog are leaders in saving lives, and we commend them and urge their continued vigilance,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group.

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