These 11 hospitals have earned an ‘A’ in every Leapfrog Group report card

Twice a year, The Leapfrog Group releases its report cards grading hospitals on patient safety, and most don’t get an “A.”

Sentara Leigh Hospital, in Norfolk, Va., is one of 11 hospitals to receive an "A" in all of The Leapfrog Group's report cards on patient safety.

The patient safety group just released its Spring 2025 Hospital Safety Grades today, and about one-third received an “A.” The Leapfrog Group is also incorporating a new element in its reports by recognizing 346 “Straight A” hospitals that have earned the top grade for at least five consecutive reports.

But a select group of 11 hospitals have received special recognition.

The elite 11 hospitals have earned an “A” for every one of the Leapfrog Group’s 27 report cards, which have been published over the past 13 years.

• Read more: Hospitals making strides in Leapfrog Group's Spring 2025 Safety Grades

Katie Stewart, The Leapfrog Group’s director of health care ratings, says the group is aiming to honor hospitals that have shown the highest commitment to patient safety.

“It's quite impressive,” Stewart tells Chief Healthcare Executive®.

“They have those systems and structures in place to prevent those errors, injuries and infections, and patient safety in these facilities has really just become hardwired,” she says. “It's something they're doing on a daily basis, and they're committed to it, and that's really what we want to see from all hospitals.”

• Read more: To improve patient safety, hospital leaders must make it a top priority

The group includes hospitals of various sizes. French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, California, part of Dignity Health, has just under 100 licensed beds. The University of Chicago Medical Center has more than 800 beds.

Sentara Health, which operates 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina, is the only health system with two hospitals on the list of all-time Straight A hospitals.

These are the 11 “Straight A” hospitals for each Leapfrog Group report card:

Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital (Illinois);

French Hospital Medical Center (California);

Inova Loudoun Hospital (Virginia);

Kaiser Permanente Orange County-Anaheim Medical Center (California);

Mayo Clinic-Phoenix (Arizona);

Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (Illinois);

Saint Anne's Hospital (Massachusetts);

Sentara CarePlex Hospital (Virginia);

Sentara Leigh Hospital (Virginia);

University of Chicago Medical Center (Illinois);

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Washington)

The Leapfrog Group examines a host of patient safety metrics in its analysis, including infections tied to central lines, catheters, MRSA infections, and other benchmarks. The group examined nearly 3,000 hospitals to compile its Spring 2025 Safety Grades.

While Stewart says The Leapfrog Group wants consumers to see the latest information on how hospitals are faring on patient safety, the organization also wanted the public to see the hospitals that are performing well over a period of years.

“We've always looked at ‘Straight A’ hospitals,” she says. “This is the first time we're making it publicly available so consumers can see on our website.”

Looking more generally, hospitals are seeing more progress in reducing infections and other adverse events, Stewart says.