MCEDP

With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March, our attention was temporarily diverted from posting great stories about living in Moore County.  Now more than ever, Moore County’s residents are so fortunate to have a nationally-acclaimed healthcare system serving our community.  FirstHealth of the Carolinas has been going above and beyond not only during the pandemic, but also everyday as indicated by this recent ranking.

FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital (MRH) in Pinehurst and Moore Regional Hospital-Richmond in Rockingham were each awarded an ‘A’ in The Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2020 hospital safety grades. MRH-Richmond also achieved the “Straight A” honor, having earned at least five consecutive A grades.

The national honor positions both campuses among the safest hospitals in the United States.

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization driven by employers and other purchasers of health care committed to improving health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers.

“We remain dedicated to patient safety across the FirstHealth system,” CEO Mickey Foster said. “Earning this honor demonstrates our commitment to provide patients with exceptional, safe care. I am honored to work with our team of physicians, nurses and staff. Whether it’s in response to the COVID-19 pandemic or in how they interact with patients every day, these health care heroes represent the best of FirstHealth.”

The Safety Grade assigns an ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade to all general hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.  MRH received the highest score possible in the category of “Doctors, Nurses, and Hospital Staff” which considers factors such as the responsiveness of staff, communication among doctors and nurses, and having specially-trained doctors to care for patients in ICU.

This is MRH-Richmond’s sixth consecutive ‘A’ grade from The Leapfrog Group.

“Every member of the FirstHealth family plays a role in maintaining our culture of safety at MRH-Richmond, and we are honored once again to receive this grade from The Leapfrog Group,” John Jackson, president of FirstHealth’s southern region, said.

Developed under the guidance of a national Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

To see full grade details for MRH and MRH-Richmond, learn how employers can help, and access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grade website.

(Photo courtesy of FirstHealth)