For the fifth time, VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital received an “A” grade, the highest possible ranking, from The Leapfrog Group’s fall 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. This national designation recognizes a hospital’s efforts in protecting patients from preventable harm.

Earlier this month, Leapfrog and Money magazine recognized VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital as one of the “best hospitals and surgery centers for ethical billing practices” in the country. To qualify for the inaugural list, eligible hospitals had to carry a high safety grade in Leapfrog’s latest safety grade assessment and meet certain standards of billing ethics.

The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization committed to improving health care quality and safety. It assigns safety grades to participating hospitals across the nation twice annually in the spring and fall. It is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on a hospital's efforts to prevent medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.

“Nothing is more important than the safety and financial wellbeing of our patients, and we go to great lengths to earn their trust and ensure they are protected at every stage of their care journey,” said Liz Martin, president of VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital. “This award is also a reminder that our communities can continue to rely on receiving excellent care locally while also having access to more specialized services of an acclaimed academic medical center.”

For the “Best Hospitals and Surgery Centers for Ethical Billing Practices” list, hospitals with a high rating have to provide patients with comprehensive billing statements and instructions for contacting a billing representative in a timely manner. To qualify for the list, the hospital also does not take legal action. To qualify for the list, the hospital also does not take legal against patients for late or insufficient payment of a medical bill.

Since becoming part of VCU Health System in 2021, many clinical services have grown at VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital. Cardiology, oncology care, and orthopedics have expanded locally, offering subspecialists the ability to perform certain procedures on-site that patients previously had to seek care for further away.

Future plans include an expansion of the Pauley Heart Center to offer preventative care and the ability to do interventional procedures locally, such as pacemaker implants. The orthopedics program has expanded its subspecialty offerings to include joint, sports, hand, spine and pediatric orthopedic needs. Ongoing recruitment efforts focus on primary care and other surgical specialties in the community.

Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to nearly 3,000 general hospitals nationwide.

The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public. To see VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital’s full grade details and access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.