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LEBANON – Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), the flagship academic medical center of Dartmouth Health, received an “A” Hospital Safety Grade for Spring 2023 from The Leapfrog Group. This national distinction recognizes DHMC’s achievements in protecting hospital patients from preventable harm and errors.

“I am proud of the work of our teams throughout the medical center who collaborate in the development and implementation of quality initiatives, reinforce expectations regarding our safety culture, anticipate events that may impact safety, and foster a learning environment anchored in trust and teamwork,” said Michael S. Calderwood, MD, MPH, chief quality officer at DHMC. “The Leapfrog survey gives us an opportunity to look at our areas of success and areas for ongoing improvement as we strive to deliver on our commitment to zero harm, empowering staff to speak up as the foundation of our safety culture, while applying a systematic, data-drive approach to complex problem solving. This year, there was a new section of the survey focused on provider order entry, and a multidisciplinary team worked to improve how we alert an ordering provider about medication contraindications. This shows what we can achieve when we work together to drive positive change.”

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.