Temple Health — Chestnut Hill Hospital’s patient safety rating rose from a D in the Leapfrog Group’s spring 2025 Hospital Safety Grade, to a C in its latest survey.

In an email, a spokesperson for Temple Health said the health care system was “pleased with the progress” the hospital has made.

“We expect this trend to continue as the full impact of our quality efforts are reflected in reporting data,” the email continues. “It is a privilege to serve this community, and the commitment to excellence from each and every member of our team is reflected in these ongoing improvements.”

Leapfrog, an independent nonprofit organization, is the only hospital rating program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm to patients, according to its website. Its “peer-review” reports are generally considered reliable. For more than 20 years it has collected, analyzed and published hospital data on safety and quality.

The survey includes five categories and 32 sub-categories. Last spring, the 122-year-old hospital was rated below average in 53% of the categories measured. Its lowest grades were in infections. In fact, in five of the six infection classifications (sepsis after surgery, surgical site after colon surgery, urinary tract, blood, C-diff, which causes diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever, and MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria) the hospital graded below average.

Perhaps the most impressive improvement was in the category of Doctors, Nurses and Hospital Staff. In Leapfrog’s spring review, the category received an overall D grade. The category was dragged down, in part, by the subcategory of Nursing in Bedside Care for Patients. It was rated 63 points below the national average and 85 points lower than the best hospitals, placing it among the worst hospitals surveyed.

In the fall survey, however, Nursing in Bedside Care for Patients not only met the national average, but placed among the best hospitals in the survey, overcoming that 85-point differential. That dramatic transformation may be tied to the new contract signed by Temple Health and overwhelmingly approved by Chestnut Hill’s nurses and technicians.

For almost a year after Temple Health took over the hospital, nurses and technicians complained about staffing and wages. At the time, Maureen May, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, said in a written statement that the core of the negotiations was concerns about retention of skilled professionals, wages, and working conditions that would attract new hires for better patient care.

“This contract, with its emphasis on staffing and measures to improve retention, acknowledges the life-saving contributions of these dedicated professionals,” she wrote in a statement reported in the Local. “By prioritizing their numbers and what they collectively bring to patients in desperate need, it also prioritizes patient care.”

The category also scored among the best hospitals in Effective Leadership to Prevent Errors and Specialty Trained Doctors Care for ICU Patients. It still was Worse than Average in Responsiveness of Hospital Staff and Communication with Nurses.

There is still work to do. In the Infections category, Chestnut Hill improved its MRSA and surgical site after colon surgery incidents to the national average. But it remained below average in the remain four categories including, sepsis infection after surgery, infection in the urinary tract, infection in the blood, and C-diff infection.

The Problems with Surgery category ranked the hospital’s score with the best when it came to dangerous objects left in patients and blood leakage. The only below average rating was accidental cuts and tears.

In the seven measures under Safety Problems, the hospital was below average in harmful events, patient falls and injuries, falls causing a broken hip, and dangerous blood clots. It scored Better than Average air or gas bubble in the blood

In the spring survey, the hospital was rated below average in the Practice to Prevent Errors category with handwashing, communications about medicine, and communication about discharge all below average.

In the fall, however, handwashing, staff working together to prevent errors, and doctors order medication through a computer was scored among the best hospitals. The subcategory of communications about medicine rose to average, while communication about discharge was still below average.

Leapfrog first asked hospitals to voluntarily report medical errors in 2001. It currently mails out 3,000 surveys and receives approximately 2,300 submissions from general hospitals across the country.

Not every hospital participates, including those in the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Hospitals that don’t respond to the survey usually receive a C grade “calculated only for the available measures,” according to the website.