ROCKPORT — Pen Bay Medical Center (PBMC) received an “A” grade in the spring 2021 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a national distinction recognizing PBMC’s achievements protecting patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.

“This rating demonstrates how focused our care team is on providing a safe place for patients to come to for their health care,” said Mark Fourre, MD, president of PBMC and Waldo County General Hospital, in a news release. “As we continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, this has never been more important. I am proud of our care team’s commitment to our patients, their families and our community.”

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization committed to health care quality and safety. The Safety Grade assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” grade to all general hospitals across the country and is updated every six months. It is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospitals’ prevention of medical errors and other harms to patients in their care.

“An ‘A’ safety grade is an elite designation that your community should be proud of,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “The past year has been extraordinarily difficult for hospitals, but PBMC shows us it is possible to keep a laser focus on patients and their safety, no matter what it takes.”

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 27 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,700 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

To see PBMC’s full grade details and access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.

PBMC, along with three other MaineHealth hospitals including Waldo County General Hospital, LincolnHealth and Stephens Memorial Hospital, also earned the 2020 Leapfrog Top Rural Hospital Award in December. The award recognizes patient safety and quality. Of the 2,200 hospitals considered for the award, only 105 were selected.

Pen Bay Medical Center

Pen Bay Medical Center is part of MaineHealth, a not-for-profit integrated health system consisting of nine local hospital systems, a comprehensive behavioral healthcare network, diagnostic services, home health agencies, and more than 1,600 employed and independent physicians working together through an Accountable Care Organization. With more than 19,000 employees, MaineHealth is the largest health system in northern New England and provides preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. For more information, please visit pbmc.org.

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.