Orlando Health Hospitals Recognized for Dedication to Patient Care and Safety by The Leapfrog Group

Orlando, FL (November 10, 2021) – Orlando Health South Lake Hospital earned its seventh consecutive A grade and was designated as a Straight A’s hospital by the Leapfrog Group, an independent national organization committed to healthcare quality and patient safety. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade rates hospitals based on how well they prioritize and actively work to improve patient care.

Three additional Orlando Health hospitals earned A grades from the Leapfrog Group – Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital, Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center and Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital. This grading period marks the fourth consecutive A grade Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital received from the Leapfrog Group in recognition of continued efforts to ensure patient safety.

“Orlando Health is committed to providing the safest, quality healthcare possible in the communities we serve,” said George Ralls, MD, chief medical officer, Orlando Health. “We’re proud to be recognized for continuing to prioritize patient safety. These prestigious recognitions are a direct result of the hard work, commitment and dedication that our physicians and team members put forth every day to make Orlando Health the highest quality healthcare organization in the southeastern United States.”

The Leapfrog Group assigns an individual ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade every six months to more than 2,700 U.S. hospitals. The grades are based on hospital performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.

Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital and Orlando Health Health Central Hospital each received B grades from the Leapfrog Group. Orlando Health St. Cloud, which was acquired by the organization in July 2020, received its first B since joining the health system.

Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, which was acquired by Orlando Health in October 2020 and was previously given a ‘D’ grade based on data from its former owners, received a C grade this grading period. The improved grade was earned after Orlando Health conducted a full assessment of healthcare quality and made significant changes immediately after assuming operations of the hospital.

Due to the lag in data capture and reporting by national hospital rating services such as The Leapfrog Group, Bayfront Health St. Petersburg will not be 100 percent free of previous owners’ data until at least 2023.

“This most recent grade improvement is just the beginning of our commitment to enhancing the quality of patient care and safety,” added John Moore, president, Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. “We will continue to meet the milestones necessary to provide the best healthcare possible for our patients and the St. Petersburg community.”

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a not-for-profit healthcare organization with $7.6 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States.

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for its pediatric and adult Level One Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level Two Adult Trauma Center in the St. Petersburg region. It is the home of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care unit under one roof, the only system in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health has pioneered life-changing medical research and its Graduate Medical Education program hosts more than 350 residents and fellows. The 3,100-bed system includes 16 wholly-owned hospitals and emergency departments; rehabilitation services, cancer and heart institutes, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, physician offices for adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care. Nearly 3,400 individual physicians, representing more than 90 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs more than 23,000 team members. In FY21, Orlando Health served nearly 160,000 inpatients and nearly 3.6 million outpatients. During that same time period, Orlando Health provided approximately $648 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more. Additional information can be found at http://www.orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @orlandohealth.