UCI Medical Center continues excellence with Leapfrog 'A' grade

Hospital has earned 19 A grades since 2014

Orange, Calif. — UCI Medical Center, part of UCI Health, is honored to announce continued recognition with an 'A' grade in the spring 2024 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.

This achievement highlights the academic health system’s ongoing commitment to top-tier patient safety and quality care, consistently placing it among the top 30% of hospitals nationwide.

With this latest grading, UCI Medical Center adds to its impressive track record that now totals 19 'A' grades since 2014. The organization’s record of quality remains a standout in the competitive California healthcare landscape.

"Securing another 'A' grade this spring is a testament to the unwavering effort and dedication of our entire team at UCI Health," said Dr. Joseph C. Carmichael, UCI Health chief medical officer and senior vice president. "This distinction reaffirms our role as a leader not just in California, but across the nation, in advancing the quality of healthcare and patient safety."

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization with a 10-year history of assigning 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' 'D' or 'F' grades to general hospitals throughout the United States. The grades are 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. The biannual Hospital Safety Grade results are based on more than 30 national performance measures and are updated each fall and spring.

Committed to its mission, UCI Health persistently focuses on delivering top-tier care, with a special emphasis on patient safety and well-being. The Leapfrog accolade further solidifies UCI Health's dedication to serving the Orange County community and its broader audience.

In a 2019 analysis, the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality found 45,000 fewer deaths than a 2016 analysis, based on the prevalence of safety problems in hospitals graded by The Leapfrog Group.

The safety scores consider such factors as:

• How often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition or procedure.
• The environment in which patients receive care (e.g., whether a hospital uses a computerized physician order entry system to prevent medication errors).
• What happens to a patient while receiving care (e.g., whether care teams left foreign objects in patients while undergoing surgery).

UCI Health continues to be a beacon of excellence in healthcare, as evidenced by numerous accolades, including a five-star hospital rating and a top national ranking for both inpatient and outpatient care from Vizient, Inc.

This ongoing recognition serves not only as a benchmark of excellence but also as an encouragement for UCI Health to sustain and enhance its healthcare services, ensuring safety and quality for all patients it serves within and beyond the Orange County community. 

About UCI Health

UCI Health is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine, and the only academic health system based in Orange County. UCI Health is comprised of its main campus, UCI Medical Center, a 459-bed, acute care hospital in in Orange, Calif., four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and ambulatory care centers across the region. Listed among America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for 23 consecutive years, UCI Medical Center provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. UCI Health serves a region of nearly 4 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

About the Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.