TCRH Receives an ‘A’ for Patient Safety for the Spring 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade

Galax, VA, May 15, 2019 – Twin County Regional Healthcare (TCRH) was awarded an ‘A’ from The Leapfrog Group’s spring 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. The designation recognizes Twin County Regional Healthcare’s efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care. The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization 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 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 pleased with this high mark, which places us among the top tier of hospitals across the country when it comes to patient safety”, remarked Dale F. Alward, FACHE, MHA, MPA, Chief Executive Officer of Twin County Regional Healthcare.

Agnes A. Smith, RN, MSN, Chief Nursing Officer of Twin County Regional Healthcare emphasized, “While this is only one part of our quality story, critical to our success has been the support of our team and the implementation of a number of initiatives directly aimed at enhancing quality.” These include:

• Executive patient safety rounding
• Bedside shift reporting
• Safety learning boards

“To be recognized nationally as an ‘A’ hospital is an accomplishment the whole community should take pride in,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Hospitals that earn an ‘A’ grade are making it a priority to protect patients from preventable medical harm and error. We congratulate hospital leaders, board members, staff, volunteers and clinicians who work so hard to earn this A.”  

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.

Twin County Regional Healthcare was awarded an ‘A’ grade recently, when Leapfrog announced grades for the spring 2019 update. To see Twin County Regional Healthcare’s full grade details, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow The Leapfrog Group on Twitter and Facebook.

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 Twin County Regional Healthcare

Twin County Regional Hospital (TCRH) is the flagship of the Twin County Regional Healthcare delivery system, a Duke LifePoint Healthcare affiliate, centered on the mission “Making Communities Healthier®.  The hospital is located in Galax, Virginia, the center of the Twin Counties of Grayson and Carroll Counties in Southwest Virginia. 

Twin County Regional Hospital has been the anchor and the region’s leader of healthcare for over 45 years offering services such as acute care, behavioral health, cardiac rehab/cardio direct, cardiology, cardiopulmonary services, chronic disease management, diagnostic imaging, emergency services, gastroenterology, intensive care, lab/lab direct, occupational health, orthopedics, rehabilitation services, sleep center, stroke center, surgical services, teleneurology, wellness center, women’s health and birthing center and many other services.

The hospital and the Twin County Physician Practices (Galax, Hillsville & Independence); Behavioral Health; Cardiology; Gastroenterology; Orthopedics; Pediatrics; Surgery, Urgent Care and Urology) – continually develop and improve services as well as outreach programs in response to community need based on a foundation of teamwork, compassion and respect for all. For additional information, please call 276.236.TCRH (8274) or visit TCRH.org or find TCRH on Facebook.