Salinas, Calif. – October 31, 2017 – Natividad Medical Center (NMC) has received a safety grade of “A” from The Leapfrog Group, one of the country’s leading organizations in measuring and publicly reporting hospital performance, for the fourth time in a row. The grade showcases NMC’s dedication to improving patient safety and minimizing errors, injuries, accidents and infections. NMC also received the Top Hospital Award from The Leapfrog Group in December 2016.

“We are proud to achieve another ‘A’ grade from a group of leading healthcare experts for our focus on patient safety,” said NMC CEO Dr. Gary Gray. “This is a recognition to our outstanding staff who pay close attention to preventing harm and medical errors while providing high quality care.”

The Hospital Safety Grade is a twice-annual assessment of more than 2,600 hospitals across the nation. The Grade includes 30 measures of publicly available hospital safety data, including how often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition or procedure, and what happens to a patient while receiving care. NMC is one of 823 hospitals in the U.S. to receive an “A,” which ranks it among the safest hospitals in the nation.

“Hospitals that earn top marks nationally in the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, ‘have achieved the highest safety standards in the country,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “That takes commitment from every member of the hospital staff, who all deserve thanks and congratulations when their hospitals achieve an ‘A’ Safety Grade.”

NMC has also received two awards of excellence from BETA Healthcare Group, the largest professional liability insurer of hospitals in California. This is the ninth year in a row NMC has received an award for Excellence in OB, which focuses on improving patient safety, reliability and reducing risk exposure in obstetrics. This is the first year NMC is awarded Excellence in ED, which puts a high priority on improving reliability and reducing risk exposure in emergency departments. NMC has also joined the group’s BETA HEART initiative, a multi-year interactive and collaborative process for addressing an array of impacts from adverse events.

NMC has received many other recognitions for high quality health care services, including the top ranking for the Acute Rehab Center from Kindred Healthcare, Performance Excellence Award in Preventing Injury Falls by CALNOC, Top Performer by The Joint Commission, and designation as a Blue Distinction Center for Maternity Care and Bariatric Surgery excellence by Anthem Blue Cross.

About the Grade
The Hospital Safety Grade grades general acute care hospitals on how safe they are for patients. The score includes data that patient safety experts use to compare hospitals. Publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, and secondary data sources are weighted and then combined to produce a single, consumer-friendly composite score that is published as an A, B, C, D or F letter grade. The Hospital Safety Grade includes 30 publicly reported measures, all currently in use by national measurement and reporting programs. Leapfrog works under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel to select measures and develop a scoring methodology. The panel is made up of patient safety experts from across the country.

About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

About BETA Healthcare Group (BETA)
BETA Healthcare Group is the largest professional liability insurer of hospitals in California, providing coverage to more than 200 hospitals and healthcare facilities. BETA also has a long-established commitment to physicians which continues to grow with BETA covering nearly 6,000 physicians and more than 50 medical groups. In addition to primary liability coverage, BETA provides an entire suite of alternative risk and insurance services, including excess liability coverage, third-party claims administration services, risk management consulting services and claims management consulting services. Whether with hospitals, medical groups, clinics or hospices, BETA has earned a reputation for financial strength, rate stability, quality service and breadth of coverage that is unparalleled in the industry.

About Natividad Medical Center (NMC)
Owned and operated by Monterey County, NMC is a 172-bed, acute-care hospital providing health care services to county residents for more than 132 years. Based in Salinas, California, NMC offers inpatient, outpatient, emergency, diagnostic and specialty medical care. NMC provides more than 38,000 patient days of care each year and has more than 52,000 emergency department visits per year. NMC is a Level II Trauma Center providing the immediate availability of specialized personnel, equipment and services to treat the most severe and critical injuries. NMC’s Trauma Center is a vital community service locally that saves lives and eliminates the need to fly critically injured patients to a distant trauma center. NMC is ranked No. 1 in newborn deliveries in Monterey County and is the only teaching hospital on the Central Coast through its affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). With a medical staff of more than 350 physicians, NMC’s mission is to continually monitor and improve the health of the people, including the vulnerable, in Monterey County through coordinated, affordable high-quality health care. For more information, please call 831-755-4111 or visit www.natividad.com.