By Healthcare Facilities Today

A report card rating safety practices at New Jersey’s hospitals seems to be making a noticeable difference, as marks have been improving since the first report in spring 2012, according to an article on the NJ Spotlight website.

The Leapfrog Group’s Hospital Safety Score report, released roughly every six months, gave “A” grades to 27 of the 67 New Jersey hospitals rated, compared with 23 in the first report card. The state ranked ninth in the country in percentage of states with the highest-level grades.

The scores are based on 28 different publicly available measures, which are weighed based on recommendations from a panel of hospital safety experts gathered by the Leapfrog Group, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit founded by employers and focused on increasing hospital safety, quality and affordability, the article said.

Although the group’s first safety report card was only released last year, the organization said both employers and insurers are using scores in determining how they shape health plans.

The grades have proven controversial among hospitals that have lower grades and American Hospital Association officials have said they are unreliable and contain errors, according to NJ Spotlight.

Read the article.