See how Triad hospitals rate when it comes to patient safety

Among the Triad's 13 hospitals, five received the highest rating for patient safety from The Leapfrog Group, national nonprofit group that rates 2,500 hospitals each year.

Hospitals that received "A" grades were Cone Health's Annie Penn Hospital in Reidsville, Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital and Wesley Long Hospital in Greensboro, along with Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital in Elkin and Northern Hospital of Surry County in Mount Airy.

Two hospitals — Cone Health's Alamance Regional Medical Center in Burlington and Morehead Memorial Hospital in Eden — were among the 148 nationally that received "D" grades.

"While the data tells us that hospitals are improving their safe practices, it's concerning to see them moving backward on any measure," Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, said in a press release. "Patients enter a hospital trusting they're in a safe place, but with 41 percent of hospitals receiving a 'C,' 'D' or 'F' grade, it's clear that some hospitals are safer than others."

Nationwide, 790 of the 2,520 hospitals rated received an "A" and 688 received a "B." There were 26 with an "F" grade.

Leapfrog uses a collection of 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to determine the score.

Process measures look at how often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a condition or procedure, such as using antibiotics right before surgery. Outcome measures look at what happens when a patient receives care, such as if a dangerous object is left in a patient's body during surgery.

Alamance Regional saw below-average performance in measures such as its standard safety procedures, whether it had the right staffing to prevent safety problems, whether its staff is following steps to make surgery safer and other areas. Take a look at its full report for more details.

Owen Covington covers health care, insurance, law/bankruptcy court, media/advertising, local government and sports business. Contact him at 336-370-2909.