SANTA BARBARA — Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital both received an “A” Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade for fall 2022 from the Leapfrog Group. The national distinction recognizes the two hospitals for achievements in protecting patients from preventable harm and errors.
“This Leapfrog award marks the third consecutive time that Cottage hospitals in Santa Barbara and Goleta Valley have earned the ‘A’ Safety Grade. We received the honors in fall 2021, spring 2022 and now fall 2022. This is a tremendous accomplishment made possible by the commitment of everyone in our organization to keep our patients safe,” said Dr. Babji Mesipam, Chief Medical Quality Officer for Cottage Health.
The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization with a 10-year history of assigning letter grades to general hospitals throughout the United States, based on a hospital’s ability to prevent medical errors and harm to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent, and free to the public. Hospital Safety Grade results are based on more than 30 national performance measures and are updated each fall and spring.
To see the full grade details and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.HospitalSafetyGrade.org.
In addition to the Leapfrog awards for Cottage hospitals in the South County, Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital in Solvang recently earned a 4 star-rating from Medicare.gov which rates how well a hospital performs on quality measures compared to other hospitals in the nation (www.medicare.gov/care-compare/#search).
“Many small hospitals may not report data on all measures and aren’t eligible for an overall hospital rating on Medicare.gov,” said Dr. Mesipam. “For Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital, an 11-bed critical access hospital, earning a 4-star rating is a great achievement.”
About Cottage Health cottagehealth.org— The not-for-profit Cottage Health is the leader in providing advanced medical care to the Central Coast region. Specialties include the Cottage Children’s Medical Center, Level 1 Trauma Center, Neuroscience Institute, Heart & Vascular Center, Center for Orthopedics, and Rehabilitation Hospital. The Cottage Health medical staff is comprised of more than 700 physicians, many with subspecialties typically found only at university medical centers. Last year, the Cottage Health hospitals in Goleta, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley provided inpatient care for 21,000 people, treated 80,000 patients through their 24-hour emergency departments and helped deliver 2,100 newborns. Cottage Health also offers Cottage Urgent Care Centers throughout the tri-counties, as well as 24-hour access to providers via Cottage Virtual Care, an online service for common conditions.