Spring Leapfrog Safety Grades and UC Davis Health

On May 1, Leapfrog Group will release its Spring Safety Grade report. As with other recent Leapfrog reports, UC Davis Health did not provide data or participate in this safety survey. As a result, we are not expecting the report to be reflective of our true quality and the work we do here for patients.

If patients or other community members have questions about the upcoming spring safety grade report, please feel free to let them know the Leapfrog Group is one of literally dozens of third-party organizations that compile hospital rankings. Each of these groups makes data requests, and responding to these takes time and resources away from other priorities. For our metrics that matter, UC Davis Health primarily follows Vizient, The Joint Commission, and US News & World Report.

Similar to Leapfrog’s December report, UC Davis Health may have low scores in the Spring Report. At UC Davis Health, we know, by watching the metrics that matter, that we deliver exceptional care and maintain the highest patient safety standards, quality, and outcomes. The UC Davis Medical Center is consistently recognized as one of the best hospitals in America by other influential organizations and publications, such as U.S. News & World Report, which has ranked us No. 1 in the Sacramento region. (See all of UC Davis Health’s awards and honors.)

Starting with the next Leapfrog reporting period, UC Davis Health will start participating in the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade program because we want to be in alignment with the other UCs. The fall survey period will run from April 1 through June 30, and those safety grades will be publicly reported on July 25th. We anticipate much higher grades in that report and going forward since we will once again be sharing our data with Leapfrog.