One of the benefits of living in Chicago is that people are never very far away from cutting-edge medical care. There are nearly 70 hospitals operating in Chicago, as well as quite a few in the nearby suburbs. Every hospital should seek to provide the best possible standard of care to patients, but not all facilities provide the same type of care. Some hospitals have older equipment than others, while other medical facilities may have fewer skilled employees than those that offer good pay and benefits.
Patients can review a hospital’s safety grade before deciding where to seek care. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade annually reviews information about medical facilities around the United States to provide a grade to hospitals. What does this grading system indicate about Chicago area hospitals?
There are many well-rated hospitals
Contrary to what people might believe there are quite a few hospitals in Chicago that have top safety rankings. The hospitals with an A rating include:
- Rush University Medical Center
- University of Chicago Medical Center
- St. Bernard Hospital
- Rush Oak Park Hospital
- OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth La Grange
- Ascension Resurrection Medical Center
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale
- Elmhurst Memorial Hospital
- NorthShore University HealthSystem-Evanston Hospital
- NorthShore University HealthSystem -Glenbrook Hospital
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth GlenOaks
- Ascension Alexian Brothers
- Northwest Community Hospital
- NorthShore University HealthSystem-Highland Park Hospital
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Bolingbrook
- Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
- Edward Hospital
- Silver Cross Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital
- Northwest Health – Porter
Another 14 hospitals received a B rating, which generally means they are safe facilities despite having a few challenges or patient complaints.
There are many facilities with poor scores as well
Patients may want to avoid the facilities that have the lowest safety grade scores. The hospitals that received a D rating for 2023 included:
- Franciscan Health Crown Point
- Advocate South Suburban Hospital
- Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital
- Advocate Christ Medical Center
- Advocate Trinity Hospital
- Community First Medical Center
- Thorek Memorial Hospital
Another 26 of the 69 hospitals rated in the Chicago region received a C.
Checking the safety grade for a hospital might help people select the best location to seek medical care or could help people understand if the poor care they received is the result of systemic failings by a medical facility. Of course, medical malpractice can occur even at a facility that usually has a very high safety rating. Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit when a hospital provides worse care than another facility would might be a reasonable response to a situation which has resulted in patient harm.