These are the unsafest hospitals in the Columbus area. See why with new report’s scores
Reality Check is a Ledger-Enquirer series digging deeper into key issues and focusing on accountability. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email srose@ledger-enquirer.com.
The average cost of a hospital stay in Georgia is over $2,000 per day, and this is a huge amount of money to pay a hospital that doesn’t measure up.
Some of the Columbus area hospitals didn’t get great marks when it comes to meeting customer needs, according to the Leapfrog Group.
The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit watchdog organization that monitors the healthcare industry, “serves as a voice for health care consumers and purchasers, using their collective influence to foster positive change in U.S. health care.”
Leapfrog consults an expert panel and uses 30 national performance markers to come up with the grades for area healthcare facilities.
Here’s how Columbus’ hospitals did for Fall 2024:
Piedmont Columbus Regional Northside: A
100 Frist Court
Columbus, Georgia, 31909
Highest marks:
Billing ethics
Nursing care
Effective leadership
Medication safety
Handwashing
Lowest marks:
Percentage of nurses who have Bachelor’s Degrees in Nursing
Informed consent
Health care equity
Martin Army Community Hospital: A
6600 Van Aalst Blvd.
Fort Moore, Georgia, 31905
Highest marks:
- Billing ethics
- Responding to “never events”
- Nursing care
Percentage of nurses who have Bachelor’s Degrees in Nursing
Medicine reconciliation
Maternity care
Lowest marks:
- Healthcare equity
- Collaboration on error prevention
- Handwashing
- Specially trained doctors for critical care
Piedmont Columbus Regional Midtown: B
710 Center Street
Columbus, Georgia, 31901
Highest marks:
- Billing ethics
- Preventing patient harm
- Medication safety
- Critical care
Lowest marks:
- Patients rights and ethics
- Healthcare associated infections
Percentage of nurses who have Bachelor’s Degrees in Nursing
Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital: C
4401 Riverchase Drive
Phenix City, Alabama, 36867
Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital declined to report to the Leapfrog Group. They arrive at the grade by using publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other publicly available datasets to fill in the gaps when hospitals do not voluntarily submit information. Their scores from previous years are as follows:
Spring 2021: C
Fall 2021: C
Fall 2022: C
Spring 2022: C
Spring 2023: B
Fall 2023: C
St. Francis-Emory Healthcare: C
2122 Manchester Expressway
Columbus, Georgia, 31904
Highest marks:
Billing ethics
Healthcare equity
Nursing care
Critical care
Maternity care
Lowest marks:
Responding to “never events”
Medication reconciliation
Surgical site infection
Healthcare-associated infections
Some of the hospitals’ grades have changed since the Spring survey:
- Piedmont Midtown : A
- Piedmont Northside: A
- Martin Army: B
- Jack Hughston: C
The Leapfrog surveys are typically released once a quarter, so the hospitals have time to remedy any bad scores or implement maintenance for poor grades.
