File photo.

Three hospitals in the Central Valley—Kaiser Permanente in Fresno, Madera Community Hospital and Adventist Medical Center in Selma—received the top score of “A” from the Leapfrog Group’s fall 2017 Safety Grade.

The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits, released its Hospital Safety Scores after examining publicly available data on patient injuries, medical and medication errors and infection at U.S. hospitals, which were assigned letter grades for their safety records.

“Receiving a top grade of ‘A’ for patient safety is a testament to Kaiser Permanente Fresno’s commitment to providing high-quality health care,” said Debbie Hemker, RN, senior vice president and area manager at Kaiser Permanente. “We are honored to be recognized once again for providing safe care to our patients, members and the communities we serve.”

Less than one-third of more than 2,600 hospitals surveyed in the U.S. received an “A” rating in the biannual report, which began in 2012.

Developed under the guidance of Leapfrog’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 30 national performance measures to produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade methodology has been peer reviewed published in the Journal of Patient Safety.

Here’s how other facilities in the Central Valley scored:

Saint Agnes Medical Center (Fresno) — B

Clovis Community Medical Center — B

Adventist Medical Center Hanford — B

Kaweah Delta Medical Center (Visalia) — B

Community Regional Medical Center (Fresno) — C

Sierra View Medical Center (Porterville) — C

Tulare Regional Medical Center — D