North Texas Hospitals Are Getting Safer

The Leapfrog Group gave 21 Dallas-Fort Worth area hospitals the top grade in its latest safety ranking, with nine Medical City Healthcare and six Baylor Scott & White Health facilities earning the top score for patient safety.

The Leapfrog Group represents hundreds of employers and purchasers of healthcare, ranking 3,000 facilities nationwide with a letter grade for their ability to prevent medical errors, accidents, and infections that kill a reported 500 people per day in the U.S. The DFW Business Group of Health leads the data collection for the North Texas region. The Leapfrog Group evaluates 62 DFW hospitals for its latest safety rankings and releases rankings twice yearly.

This year, 17 regional hospitals received a “B,” 21 received a “C,” and only two received a “D.” Texas ranked 10th in the nation for the percentage of hospitals that received an “A,” up from 14th last year.

Medical City Healthcare again led the region in Leapfrog’s rankings, with nine of the system’s 16 hospitals earning an “A” grade. “These outstanding national safety ratings reflect our expert physicians, staff, and clinicians shared dedication across Medical City Healthcare to providing safe, high-quality care in every action, for every patient, every time,” says Allen Harrison, president of Medical City Healthcare.

Baylor Scott & White Health All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite, and Medical City Lewisville moved from a “B” in the spring to an “A” this fall.

In last fall’s rankings, Texas Health Resources didn’t have any “A” rated hospitals, and the system now has two. Baylor Scott White & Health improved from three to six hospitals with the top safety grade between 2022 and 2023, and Methodist Health System improved from two to three during the same period. Baylor Scott & White Health no longer has any “D” rated hospitals (it had one last fall). The only “D” ratings in DFW were for Parkland Health, which does not voluntarily submit data to Leapfrog, and White Rock Medical Center. Both those hospitals had missing data.

UT Southwestern’s Clements University Hospital, which is routinely ranked the top hospital in the region in other rankings and was named the best hospital in the state this year by U.S. News and World Report, received a “B” from The Leapfrog Group.

Critics of The Leapfrog Group’s rankings are skeptical of the voluntary, self-reported data, though Leapfrog also includes data from CMS and other sources, and its methodology is published in a peer-reviewed journal. In an evaluation of the different hospital rating organizations (including U.S. News and World Report, CMS, The Leapfrog Group, and Healthgrades) published in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst methodology experts gave The Leapfrog Group a C- for its rating system. U.S. News received a B, CMS received a C, and Healthgrades received a D+.

“Nobody wants patients to suffer or even die from a preventable medical error, but sadly, it happens all too often in hospitals across the country, including in North Texas,” said Marianne Fazen, executive director of DFWBGH. “Employers in our coalition, who purchase healthcare for over a million DFW area employees and their families, believe everyone in our community benefits when we all know how our hospitals are performing, so we can work together to prevent these terrible problems.”

See below for the DFW area hospitals that received an “A.” The full rankings can be found here.