Orange Park, FL – Orange Park Medical Center received an “A” grade in the patient safety survey released by the independent Leapfrog Group last week, for a second consecutive rating period. An “A” is the highest score attainable and only one other northeast Florida hospital, Mayo Clinic, received the same score.

“Our staff has worked diligently to ensure we are exceeding some of the most stringent safety standards,” said Thomas Pentz, CEO of Orange Park Medical Center. “To receive this rating on the heels of earning the top 3-star rating for cardiovascular surgery from the STS and being named a Joint Commission Top Performer just shows how far we’ve come in terms of quality and safety.”

The Hospital Safety Score uses national performance measures from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to produce a single score representing a hospital's overall safety performance.

The score includes a list of 26 weighted measures, such as the number of patients who develop severe pressure ulcers, have surgical objects left inside their body cavities or develop postoperative pulmonary emboli. They also take into consideration the frequency with which the hospital employs best practices to prevent pneumonia, infections or other complications.

The Washington, D.C.-based Leapfrog Group is an independent, national nonprofit founded more than a decade ago by leading employers and private health-care experts.

Orange Park Medical Center has received numerous other recognitions for the quality care it delivers, including being named a Top Performer in Key Quality Measures by the Joint Commission for two years in a row, placing them in the top seven percent of hospitals nationally.