Orlando Health South Lake Hospital Receives 11th Consecutive ‘A’ Grade for Patient Safety

Orlando, FL (Nov. 6, 2023) – Orlando Health South Lake Hospital has earned its 11th consecutive ‘A’ grade from the Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit organization committed to driving quality, safety and transparency in the U.S. health system. Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC), Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital and Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital also earned ‘A’ grades for patient safety in the fall 2023 reporting period. This marks the fifth ‘A’ grade in a row for Orlando Health ORMC and Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips.

“Our team at Orlando Health South Lake is very driven to the highest patient safety, and that steadfast commitment is evident in us earning our 11th‘A’ grade,” said Lance Sewell, senior vice president, Orlando Health North Central Region and president, Orlando Health South Lake Hospital. “We are pleased to secure this rating once again, and we are honored that the patients of Lake County, where South Lake was the only ‘A’-rated hospital, put their confidence in us.”

Orlando Health South Lake Hospital was also identified as one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® according to an independent quality analysis provided by PINC AI™ and reported by Fortune in September.

“When patients come to our hospitals they put their total trust in us, and the ‘A’ grades directly reflect how seriously we hold that trust when it comes to their safety and the quality of their experience,” said George Ralls, MD, chief medical officer, Orlando Health. “Our clinical teams uphold the highest quality standards while providing compassionate, expert care for the communities we serve.”

Across a spectrum of services and facilities, Orlando Health has been recognized both locally and nationally for providing high quality care. Orlando Health hospitals were recognized as Best Hospitals with high-performing care for 2022-2023 by U.S. News & World Report. Orlando Health also holds 24 active Beacon Awards for Excellence in bedside care – more than any other healthcare system in Florida. The distinction is awarded by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses to units that employ evidence-based practices to improve patient and family outcomes.

The Leapfrog Group gave Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital and Bayfront Health St. Petersburg – facilities that joined Orlando Health in 2020 – “C” grades. Due to the lag in outcomes data used for grading by national organizations such as The Leapfrog Group, current grades do not completely reflect outcomes achieved after Orlando Health’s acquisition of these two facilities.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program exclusively based on hospital prevention of medical errors, infections and injuries that cause more than 500 mortalities a day nationally. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

To view Orlando Health’s Leapfrog scores, visit the Hospital Safety Score website at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a private, not-for-profit healthcare organization with $9.2 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico. 

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for Central Florida’s only pediatric and adult Level I Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level II Adult Trauma Center in Pinellas County. 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 3,888-bed system includes 29 hospitals and emergency departments – 24 of which are currently operational with five coming soon. The system also includes nine specialty institutes, more than 100 adult and pediatric primary care practices, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility under the management of Acadia Healthcare, and more than 60 outpatient facilities that include imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with FastMed Urgent Care. More than 4,750 physicians, representing more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs more than 27,000 team members and more than 1,200 physicians.

In FY22, Orlando Health served nearly 142,000 inpatients and 3.9 million outpatients. The healthcare system provided more than $782 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 in FY 21, the most recent period for which this information is available. Additional information can be found at https://www.orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X @orlandohealth.