All 11 hospitals that have earned consecutive straight “A” safety grades from The Leapfrog Group earned a four-or five-star rating from CMS, while all of the hospitals that earned an “F” grade from Leapfrog received three stars or below from CMS.
Leapfrog updated its spring safety grades Nov. 13, recognizing 11 hospitals that have received an “A” grade in every consecutive update since 2012. Of these hospitals, five received a five-star rating from CMS and five earned a four-star rating. Star ratings were not available for one of the straight-“A” hospitals.
Meanwhile, most of Leapfrog’s 23 “F” hospitals received a one- or two-star rating from CMS. Just one “F” hospital earned a three-star rating.
Hospitals have long pushed back against Leapfrog’s safety grades, arguing that the methodology is flawed and unfairly penalizes facilities that don’t voluntarily submit survey data. On April 30, five Florida hospitals — part of Palm Beach Health Network — filed a lawsuit against Leapfrog over the safety grades, claiming they unfairly damage the facilities’ reputations. Leapfrog has denied the allegations, describing the complaint as an attempt to suppress safety information from the public. A trial in the case is set to take place in January.
The lawsuit represents the third filed against Leapfrog by hospitals since 2017. The previous two lawsuits were dismissed.
Leapfrog assigned letter grades to nearly 3,000 acute care hospitals based on 22 patient safety measures, including 10 from CMS spanning from falls to death rates among surgical patients who had serious treatable complications. Leapfrog also collects information from hospitals that complete voluntary hospital surveys and other sources. Data reporting periods range from July 2021 to June 2024, depending on the measure.
CMS updated its Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings in August, assigning a star rating to more than 4,600 hospitals based on 46 hospital quality measures. These are divided into five quality categories: safety of care, mortality, patient experience, readmission rates and timely and effective care. This year, 290 hospitals earned a five-star rating and 229 received a one-star rating. Data reporting periods range from July 2020 to December 2024, depending on the measure.
The CMS star ratings for Leapfrog’s fall 2025 straight-“A” hospitals:
Mayo Clinic (Phoenix) — Five stars
French Hospital Medical Center (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) — Five stars
Kaiser Permanente Orange County-Anaheim (Calif.) Medical Center — Four stars
Saint Anne’s Hospital (Fall River) — Unavailable
Endeavor Health Elmhurst (Ill.) Hospital — Four stars
Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (Winfield, Ill.) — Five stars
University of Chicago Medical Center — Four stars
Inova Loudoun Hospital (Leesburg, Va.) — Five stars
Sentara CarePlex Hospital (Hampton, Va.) — Four stars
Sentara Leigh Hospital (Norfolk, Va.) — Four stars
Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle) — Five stars
The CMS star ratings for Leapfrog’s “F” hospitals:
Baptist Medical Center South (Montgomery) — One star
Madison (Ala.) Hospital — Unavailable
Huntsville (Ala.) Hospital — Two stars
White River Medical Center (Batesville, Ark.) — Three stars
Norwalk (Calif.) Community Hospital — Unavailable
Delray Medical Center (Delray Beach, Fla.) — One star*
St. Joseph’s Hospital (Savannah, Ga.) — Two stars
West Suburban Medical Center (Oak Park, Ill.) — One star
Roseland Community Hospital (Chicago) — One star
Weiss Memorial Hospital (Chicago) — One star
HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital (Decatur, Ill.) — One star
UnityPoint Health – Trinity Regional Medical Center (Fort Dodge, Iowa) — One star
MercyOne Genesis Davenport (Iowa) Medical Center — One star
Mercy Medical Center – Cedar Rapids (Iowa) — Unavailable
DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital (Detroit) — One star
DMC Harper University Hospital (Detroit) — One star
DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital (Detroit) — One star
Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Memorial Medical Center — One star
Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) — One star
Saint Francis Hospital – Memphis (Tenn.) — Two stars
Parkland Health (Dallas) — Two stars
Central Vermont Medical Center (Berlin, Vt.) — Two stars
Rivers Health (Point Pleasant, W. Va.) — One star
*Delray Medical Center’s parent company is Palm Beach Health Network, which has sued Leapfrog over its safety grade rankings.
