Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center earned an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit watchdog focused on patient safety. This is the ninth consecutive “A” the hospital has earned.  Leapfrog assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” grade to general hospitals across the country based on over 30 performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and infections, as well as the systems hospitals have in place to prevent them.  

“All team members at Piedmont Athens Regional are focused on creating and maintaining a safe environment for our patients, and achieving our ninth consecutive “A” validates that our efforts are working,” said Michael Burnett, Piedmont Athens Regional’s CEO. “Each day, we work together to evaluate patients’ care and build treatments plans based on what is best and safest for each patient.” 

“Achieving an ‘A’ Hospital Safety Grade is a significant accomplishment for Piedmont Athens Regional,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “It reflects enormous dedication to your patients and their families, and your whole community should be proud. I extend my congratulations to Piedmont Athens Regional, its leadership, clinicians, staff and volunteers for their tireless efforts to put patients first.”

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade stands as the only hospital ratings program focused solely on preventable medical errors, infections and injuries that kill more than 500 patients a day in the United States. This program is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Grades are updated twice annually, in the fall and spring.