New Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades Show Significant Improvement in Patient Safety Nationwide

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May 06, 2026, 06:00 ET

States with the highest percentage of "A" hospitals are Connecticut, Virginia, South Carolina, Utah, Montana, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and California

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Leapfrog Group today released its spring 2026 Hospital Safety Grade . The biannual Safety Grade is an "A," "B," "C," "D" or "F" assigned to most general hospitals in the United States based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections. It is the only ratings program focused exclusively on how safe hospitals are for patients.

National data from the spring 2026 Safety Grade shows significant improvement in 17 measures of errors and infections. This includes healthcare-associated infections, bar code medication administration, computerized physician order entry and five patient experience measures.

"The good news is that hospitals across the country are making meaningful strides in patient safety and helping save countless lives," said Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. "But not all hospitals are the same. That's why it's so important for people to consult Safety Grades and do their research when choosing a hospital."

National Patient Safety Improvement Trends

Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs)

In fall 2022, Leapfrog reported that several HAIs were at their highest peak since 2016. Since then, average HAI scores have declined dramatically for four measures:

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) decreased by 50%.
Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) decreased by 45%.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) decreased by 42%.
Clostridium difficile (C.diff) decreased by 30%.

Medication Safety

Medication errors are the most common type of error in hospitals, and the new Hospital Safety Grade data suggest improvements in how hospitals prevent them. Two of the measures in the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade show this progress:

Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE): Leapfrog tracks how well hospitals use CPOE systems to catch common prescribing errors, such as prescribing the wrong dose or a medication with a dangerous interaction with other medications the patient takes. Studies have shown CPOE systems can reduce harm from prescriber errors by as much as 55%. In 2018, 66% of hospitals met Leapfrog's standard; by 2025, that figure rose to 90%.

Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA): Leapfrog scores hospitals on deployment of BCMA systems, which use barcodes at the bedside to ensure the right patient gets the right medication at the right time. In 2018, 47% of graded hospitals met the standard, by 2025, 93% did.

Patient Experience

Patient experience is measured through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) uses to publicly report patients' perspectives of hospital care. Of the 32 measures used to generate Hospital Safety Grades, Leapfrog reports on five patient experience measures that directly impact patient safety outcomes: Nurse Communication, Doctor Communication, Staff Responsiveness, Communication about Medicine and Discharge Information. Patient experience scores were at their all-time lowest performance in fall 2023. Since then, they have all improved on average by one point.

State Rankings

Key findings on the spring 2026 Hospital Safety Grade state performance include:

The states with the highest percentage of "A" hospitals are Connecticut, Virginia, South Carolina, Utah, Montana, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and California.
- Montana is fifth, putting it in the top five for the first time.
- Florida moved to seventh after being fifteenth in fall 2025.
- Maryland moved to eighth, placing the state in the top ten for the first time after years of being in the bottom 20 states.
There were no "A" hospitals in North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.

Why Some Hospitals Are Reported as "Grade Not Assigned"

For spring 2026, due to a ruling by a federal court in South Florida, Leapfrog is not assigning Safety Grades to 450 hospitals that did not participate in the 2024 or 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Survey. These hospitals are reported as Grade Not Assigned (GNA). Although the court ruling only applied to five hospitals, Leapfrog does not apply programmatic changes to individual hospitals because the Hospital Safety Grade is a national program. Leapfrog is pursuing an appeal and reviewing the Safety Grade methodology with its National Expert Panel to ensure the Hospital Safety Grade continues to be useful for consumers. Any proposed methodology changes will be announced and made available for public comment.

About The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is an independent national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps for patient safety. Among its initiatives, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade was launched in 2012 and assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. It is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm to patients. It is fully transparent and free to the public, and grades are updated biannually in the fall and in the spring. To look up your hospital's Safety Grade, please visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org . For more from Leapfrog, follow us on X (Formerly Twitter ), LinkedIn , Facebook and Instagram and sign up for our newsletter .