McLeod Medical Center Dillon was honored with an "A" grade in the Fall 2014 Hospital Safety Score, which rates how well hospitals protect patients from errors, injuries and infections. The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety and is administered by The Leapfrog Group (Leapfrog), an independent industry watchdog. The first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the Journal of Patient Safety, the Score is free to the public and designed to give consumers information they can use to protect themselves and their families when facing a hospital stay.

"McLeod Health continues to be the choice for medical excellence because of the intense focus that is placed on quality and patient safety at each McLeod facility," said Debbie Locklair, Administrator of McLeod Dillon. "On behalf of McLeod Dillon, we thank our patients and community for entrusting us with their care. Our employees and medical staff members are to be commended for devoting their considerable skills and talents to the selfless service of others. Being honored as part of this elite group speaks to their level of skill. Their commitment to caring for the individual patient supports the mission of the McLeod organization."

"Patient safety needs to be a 24-7 priority for hospitals, as errors and infections are all too common and often deadly," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which administers the Hospital Safety Score. "We commend the ‘A’ hospitals, including McLeod Dillon, for helping us to raise the standards of health care nationwide, and demonstrating that they’ve made the well-being of patients a top priority."

Developed under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single "A," "B," "C," "D," or "F" score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 U.S. general hospitals were assigned scores in fall 2014, with about 31-percent receiving an "A" grade. The Hospital Safety Score is fully transparent, with a full analysis of the data and methodology used in determining grades available online.

To see how McLeod Dillon’s score compares locally and nationally, and to access consumer-friendly tips for patients and their loved ones, visit the newly updated Hospital Safety Score website at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org. Consumers can also go to www.hospitalsafetyscore.org for a free download of the Hospital Safety Score mobile app.

About The Leapfrog Group
The Hospital Safety Score (www.hospitalsafetyscore.org) is an initiative of The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org), a national nonprofit organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.

About McLeod Dillon
With a strong history in the Dillon community since 1943, McLeod Dillon has continued to grow and expand to serve residents of Dillon (SC), Marion (SC), Marlboro (SC), and Robeson (NC) counties with excellence in patient care. The Joint Commission accredited medical center employs 350 and has the strength of 100 physicians on its medical staff. McLeod Dillon offers general and orthopedic surgery, women’s services, emergency services, intensive care, rehabilitative services and cardiac rehabilitation. Investments in state of the art technology to improve patient care have included Open MRI, digital mammography, 4D ultrasounds, CT Scans, and nuclear and vascular studies.