May 18, 2024
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Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox earns 19th straight ‘A’ for safety from Leapfrog Group

Letter grades are updated each spring and fall

By Denise M. Baran-Unland
Annamae Ginter, 70, of Oak Forest (right) popped into Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, to thank her providers for such terrific care. Ginter is seen with Lisa Gravitt, staff nurse to breast surgeon Dr. Jennifer Young Gambla, who treated Ginter. (

Annamae Ginter, 70, of Oak Forest (right) popped into Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, to thank her providers for such terrific care. Ginter is seen with Lisa Gravitt, staff nurse to breast surgeon Dr. Jennifer Young Gambla, who treated Ginter. Silver Cross Hospital recently earned an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, making it the 19th straight A that Silver Cross has earned for patient safety since 2015. (Denise Unland)

Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox recently received its 19th straight “A” for patient safety.

Leah Binder, president and CEO of the Leapfrog Group, said in a news release from Silver Cross that “everyone who works at Silver Cross Hospital should be proud” of the achievement.

“It takes complete dedication at every level and an ironclad commitment to putting patients first,” Binder said.

The Leapfrog Group “is a nonprofit watchdog organization that serves as a voice for health care consumers and purchasers,” according to its website.

Each spring and fall, the Leapfrog Group assigns a letter grade – “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” – to general hospitals across the U.S., according to a news release from Silver Cross Hospital announcing the honor.

The letter grades, which are updated each spring and fall, are based on more than “30 measures of errors, accidents, injuries and infections as well as the systems hospitals have in place to prevent them,” according to the release. These are “preventable medical errors, infections and injuries” that kill more than 500 patients a day nationally.

Silver Cross has received an “A” in patient safety 19 consecutive times since 2015, according to the release.

“At Silver Cross, ensuring the safety of our patients is at the heart of everything we do,” Michael Mutterer, interim president and CEO, said in the release.

[ Baran-Unland: Why you should care about local hospitals’ Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades ]

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is “peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public” to access, according to the release. It is the only hospital ratings program that focuses exclusively on these “preventable medical errors, infections and injuries.”

For information, visit leapfroggroup.org and silvercross.org.