LEWISTON — Central Maine Medical Center was awarded an “A” in the Spring 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, the fourth time in two years this national distinction has recognized CMMC’s achievement in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care. 

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization, driven by employers and other purchasers of health care, and committed to improving health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers. The Safety Grade assigns an ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade to all general hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care. 

“We are honored to be recognized — for the fourth consecutive survey — with this commendation from the Leapfrog Group,” said Dr. John Alexander, chief medical officer of Central Maine Healthcare. “We are consistently dedicated to providing the highest quality of care to our community, and our staff is unrelenting toward achieving a goal of zero patient harm.”

Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

The Spring 2020 award follows ‘A’ grades for CMMC in Fall and Spring 2019, and Fall 2018. 

“As the nation copes with a challenging pandemic, our gratitude extends to hospital leadership and health care workers everywhere for their tremendous dedication,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We hope this ‘A’ helps to thank the people who work and volunteer for Central Maine Medical Center. They are role models in putting patients first, and their service has been extraordinary in our country’s time of need.”