In the Spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, released April 29, 26 Garden State facilities received A grades. New Jersey had 100 percent of general acute-care hospitals participate in the Leapfrog survey.

Ten hospitals moved up a grade and four hospitals moved down a grade. As a state, New Jersey moved up from No. 17 to No. 14 in the safety grade national ranking, which is based on the percentage of “A” grade hospitals.

Saint Barnabas Medical Center is the only New Jersey hospital,and just one of 27 hospitals in the nation, to have achieved straight A grades since the Leapfrog grading began in 2012. Also of note, East Orange General Hospital remained a D hospital and is the only hospital in the state that received a D. There were no F grades.

“Overall, New Jersey improved in our standing nationally in the number of A hospitals in our state,” said Linda Schwimmer, president and chief executive officer of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, the Regional Leader in New Jersey for Leapfrog. “We are also pleased to see the state-owned University Hospital improve its grade, which is now a C. We look forward to seeing that improvement continue.” In recent years, University Hospital has received Ds and Fs.

In New Jersey, all of the state’s 68 acute care hospitals received a grade. An analysis of the New Jersey data shows:

• 26 “A” hospitals – 38%, one more A than last round;
• 26 “B” hospitals – 38%, two more Bs than last round;
• 15 “C” hospitals – 22%, one fewer C than last round;
• 1 “D” hospital – 1%, two fewer Ds than last round; and
• 0 “F” hospitals – 0%, no change from last round.

A Grade

• Bayshore Medical Center, Holmdel
• Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains
• Community Medical Center, Toms River
• Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood
• Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center, Westwood
• Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington
• Inspira Medical Center Elmer, Elmer
• Inspira Medical Center Vineland, Vineland 
• Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital, Cherry Hill
• Jefferson Stratford Hospital, Stratford
• Jefferson Washington Township Hospital Turnersville
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune
• Monmouth Medical Center Long Branch
• Morristown Medical Center, Morristown
• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark
• Newton Medical Center, Newton 
• Ocean Medical Center, Brick
• Overlook Medical Center, Summit
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, Hamilton
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, Somerville
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston
• Saint Clare’s Hospital of Denville, Denville
• Saint Clare’s Hospital of Dover, Dover
• Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick
• Shore Medical Center, Somers Point
• St. Luke’s Warren Campus, Phillipsburg

B Grade

• Cape Regional Medical Center Cape May Court House
• CarePoint Health-Bayonne Medical Center, Bayonne
• CarePoint Health-Christ Hospital, Jersey City
• Carepoint Health-Hoboken University Medical Center, Hoboken
• CentraState Medical Center, Freehold
• Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville
• Cooper University Hospital, Camden
• Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center, Montclair
• Hackensack Meridian Health Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen
• Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack
• Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck
• Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City
• Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, Lakewood
• Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center, Plainsboro
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Old Bridge, Old Bridge
• Raritan Bay Medical Center of Perth Amboy, Perth Amboy
• Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway, Rahway
• Saint Michael’s Medical Center, Newark
• Salem Medical Center, Salem
• St. Mary’s General Hospital, Passaic
• The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood
• Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Camden
• Virtua Voorhees Hospital, Voorhees
• Virtua Willingboro, Willingboro

C Grade

• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center – City Campus, Atlantic City
• Atlanticare Regional Medical Center-Mainland Campus, Pomona
• Capital Health Medical Center – Hopewell, Pennington
• Capital Health Regional Medical Center, Trenton
• Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Hackettstown
• Hudson Regional Hospital, Secaucus
• JFK Medical Center, Edison
• Southern Ocean Medical Center, Manahawkin
• St. Francis Medical Center of Trenton, Trenton
• St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, Paterson
• St. Joseph’s Wayne Medical Center, Wayne
• Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth
• University Hospital, Newark
• Virtua Marlton Hospital, Marlton
• Virtua Memorial Hospital, Mount Holly

D Grade

• East Orange General Hospital, East Orange

For the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, the calculations and grading remained consistent with the Fall 2020 methodology. Hospitals will submit a new round of data by August 2021, which will be used in the Fall 2021 calculations.

There will be some methodology changes in the 2021 survey. Leapfrog added two new sets of questions in 2021 to assess whether hospitals and surgery centers practice ethical billing and track and address disparities in care that affect patient care.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses national performance measures to grade hospitals using a methodology developed with guidance from the foremost experts in patient safety.