Leapfrog releases grades twice a year, in the spring and fall, for major hospitals around the country, based on dozens of safety measures, including the organization’s own surveys and data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
In the fall of 2024, NHRMC’s grade dropped from a B to a C, and has remained there since, including the latest fall report released last week. The hospital has also consistently received just two out of five stars from CMS since 2022. Combined with concerning stories from patients and staff, the overall picture for Novant has not been great, leading to public protests and calls for reforms at the hospital.
Hospital president Laurie Whalen acknowledged that the fall C grade was not ideal. But, she said that because some of Leapfrog’s data can date back over four years, it’s not a snapshot of the hospital’s current quality.
“That's why we don't rely on just Leapfrog and CMS, those indicators are real and important, and they're public facing, but they are data from multiple years ago,” Whalin told WHQR.
Some of Leapfrog’s main metrics, including a composite of federal patient safety indicator data and the death rate for surgical patients with serious treatable conditions, were based on the same reporting period for both the spring and fall 2025 ratings. That’s because CMS only publishes this data once a year (and it usually shows up in the Spring ratings). Some data reporting was delayed by the government shutdown, but a Leapfrog spokesperson said the organization allowed a one-time extension and was able to include that information in the fall report.
The death rate and federal safety data cover July 2021 through the end of June 2023. That includes the summer of 2022, when the hospital hit a low point after a patient died waiting to be seen in the emergency room. Those safety measures make up about 17% of the overall grade, according to Leapfrog’s most recent scoring methodology.
But the majority of safety metrics are based on more recent data. Ratings for staffing, communication and responsiveness, infection management, and other safety indicators all came largely from 2024. (You can find Leapfrog’s data metrics and reporting periods here.)
In May, after Leapfrog released its spring grade, Whalin acknowledged that it was troubling for the public — and reiterated that last week in an interview. But she also points to other organizations that have recognized quality care at NHRMC.
Vizient, a company that works on improving healthcare quality, recently ranked NHRMC’s pediatric hospital the fourth best in the country, Whalin noted. She also cited top awards from the American College of Cardiology and top rankings for NHRMC’s physicians groups. And Whalin said Novant remains committed to earning an A from Leapfrog and five stars from CMS.
Whalin also said Novant’s own internal data paints a real-time picture that is more positive — but, of course, the public will need to see it, to believe it. To that end, she said the hospital plans to launch an online “microsite” dashboard tracking safety metrics before the end of the year.
“We've talked about creating a landing page for all of the quality efforts we're doing, showing our results and some of these improvements,” Whalin said, adding that it would show improvements on measures tracked by Leapfrog and CMS, as well as issues like Emergency Department wait times.
Whalin said the site would be “putting that out for the public so that we direct anybody to it and say, ‘Hey, go here, look for real-time improvement,’ and we can keep that continuously updated.”
