St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction has once again received an A for its efforts to ensure patient safety.

The medical center, operated by SCL Health, received an A rating from the Leapfrog Group in its fall 2020 hospital grades report. St. Mary’s has received an A in each of the last seven twice-yearly assessments from the health care industry watchdog group.

Bryan Johnson, president of St. Mary’s, said the rating validates ongoing efforts to provide safe and high-quality care while in turn driving down health care costs. 

“Leapfrog is a way for consumers and employers to gain third-party reporting to evaluate their health care options, and we couldn’t be more proud of this accomplishment,” Johnson said. “This recognition honors the importance of this dedicated work, and we congratulate our boards, clinicians, administrators and associates for demonstrating that they make the well-being of our patients our top priority.”

Leapfrog Group has assigned A, B, C, D and F letter grades to general acute-care hospitals in the United States since 2012. While the process is voluntary, more than 2,600 hospitals submit information for evaluations. 

The rating takes into account 28 measures of publicly available information to produce a single grade. Letter grades are based on three factors: how patients fare statistically, resources used in caring for patients and leadership and structures that promote patient safety.

St. Mary’s was among 896 hospitals to receive A grades in the fall 2020 report.