Myrtle Beach, SC — Grand Strand Medical Center was awarded an 'A' grade from The Leapfrog Group's Spring 2019 Hospital Safety Grade for the second time in a row. The designation recognizes the hospital's focus in protecting patients from harm and providing safer healthcare services. The Leapfrog Group is a national organization committed to improving health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers. The Safety Grade assigns an 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' or 'F' grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.

"Once again earning an 'A' grade this spring reinforces our commitment to patient safety being a top priority for our hospital," states Dr. Andrew Schwartz, Chief Medical Officer of Grand Strand Health. "We are proud of the continued dedication by our colleagues and medical providers to make Grand Strand Medical Center a safe place for all of our patients to receive the care they deserve."

Developed under the guidance of a National Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. 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 full grade details and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit The Leapfrog Group's Hospital Safety Grade website.