OKC Metro Hospitals Score Across The Board On Patient Safety

Every Spring and Fall, hospitals across the country are evaluated by a national patient safety watchdog group.

Oklahoma has only 13 hospitals scoring an A.

Three hospitals in the metro made that list: Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City, Integris Baptist, and Integris Edmond.

Mercy Hospital scored an A for the second time this year after falling to a B in 2023. “It's a team effort. And it starts from the very bottom up,” Dr. Chad Smith, Mercy’s Chief Medical Officer, said.

Mercy Hospital had a big year, opening the largest women's center in Oklahoma and announcing several expansions for the coming years.

Behind the scenes, Mercy also regained its A rating with Leapfrog, the only hospital rating that focuses solely on patient safety.

Smith said a hospital earning an A rating is a significant accomplishment. “It starts with a solid foundation. You know, if we didn't have a good culture of patient safety, we wouldn't be able to achieve the success that we have,” he said.

Leapfrog grades hospitals on several areas of patient safety including infection rates, surgical complications rates, policies, procedures, and hospital communication.

Mercy stands alongside 13 hospitals in Oklahoma and only 30% of hospitals across the country with an A rating for the fall of 2024.

Other metro hospitals' ratings sit mostly at B and C.

Smith says patient care is what sets A-rated hospitals apart. “We started referring to all of our individuals within the hospital as caregivers, recognizing that if you work for mercy in some form or fashion, what you do contributes to the care of patients,” he said.

Here’s a list of other hospitals ratings in the metro:

1. OU Medical Center: C
2. OU Medical Center Edmond: D
3. Integris Canadian Valley: C
4. Norman Regional Hospital: C
5. SSM Health St. Anthony’s Hospital Midtown and Midwest City: D

The safety grade for all Oklahoma hospitals that opted to share patient data with Leapfrog can be found here.