What Are The Safest Hospitals in America?

Click To Enlarge

Every month, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 6,000 serious medical errors occur among Medicare patients alone. These include leaving surgical instruments inside patients, administering the wrong medication, infections and more. As the result of publicity surrounding the disastrous results of hospital errors, and information collected from sources such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the American Hospital Association and the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, more hospitals are stepping up to the plate to improve hospital safety.

Some of the safety measures include barcodes to match the right medicine to the correct patient, ultraviolet lights that kill germs, and integrated electronic medical record keeping so new prescriptions can be checked against the patient's medical record before administering. As a result, data collected from the above sources have identified some of the top safest hospitals in the country.

Arizona

Mayo Clinic Hospital (Phoenix)

California

California Pacific Medical Center (San Francisco), Mills-Peninsula Health Services (Burlingame), Sutter Tracy Community Hospital (Tracy), Stanford Hospital and Clinics (Stanford), University of California Davis Medical Center (Sacramento)

Florida

Cleveland Clinic Florida (Weston), Homestead Hospital (Homestead), JFK Medical Center of Atlantis (Atlantis), West Palm Hospital (West Palm Beach)

Hawaii

The Queens Medical Center (Honolulu)

Illinois

NorthShore University Health System (Skokie),  Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago),  OSF St. Joseph Medical Center (Bloomington), Rush University Medical Center (Chicago)

Indiana

Indiana University Health La Porte Hospital (La Porte), St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital (Indianapolis)

Iowa

Grinnell Regional Medical Center (Grinnell)

Maine

Central Maine Medical Center (Lewiston)

Massachusetts

Baystate Medical Center (Springfield), Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Tufts Medical Center (Boston), Lahey Clinic (Burlington)

Michigan

Harper-Hutzel Hospital (Detroit), Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital (Grand Rapids), University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers (Ann Arbor)

Minnesota

St. Mary's Hospital of Rochester (Rochester)

Montana

Billings Clinic (Billings)

New Jersey

Hackensack University Medical Center (Hackensack), Valley Hospital (Ridgewood)

New York

Montefiore Medical Center (Bronx), Northern Westchester Hospital (Mount Kisco), Bellevue Hospital Center (New York), Vassar Brothers Medical Center (Poughkeepsie)

North Carolina

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (Winston-Salem)

Ohio

The Christ Hospital (Cincinnati), University Hospitals Case Medical Center (Cleveland), Dublin Methodist Hospital (Columbus)

Pennsylvania

Allegheny General Hospital (Pittsburgh), Geisinger Medical Center (Danville), Lehigh Valley Hospital (Allentown)

Tennessee

Takoma Regional Hospital, Greeneville
Vanderbilt University Hospital, Nashville
Skyline Medical Center, Nashville

Texas

The Methodist Hospital (Houston), St. David's Georgetown Hospital (Georgetown), USMD Hospital at Arlington (Arlington), Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital (Azle)

Virginia

Inova Fair Oaks Hospital (Fairfax), Inova Loudoun Hospital (Leesburg)

Washington

MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital (Puyallup), Virginia Mason Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center First Hill Campus (Seattle), Sibley Memorial Hospital (D.C.)

Wyoming

Wyoming Medical Center (Casper)