UCI Medical Center recognized for excellence with Leapfrog 'A' grade

Academic health system’s flagship hospital has earned top grade 20 times since 2014

Orange, Calif. — UCI Medical Center, part of UCI Health, is honored to announce continued recognition with an 'A' grade in the spring 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. This achievement highlights the academic health system’s ongoing commitment to top-tier patient safety and quality care, consistently placing it among the top 30% of hospitals nationwide.

With this latest grade, UCI Medical Center adds to its impressive track record that now totals 20 'A' grades since the biannual safety grades began in 2014. The organization’s record of quality makes it a leader in the competitive California healthcare landscape.

“The entire UCI Health team is committed to providing patients with the safest, highest quality healthcare available,” said Dr. Joseph C. Carmichael, UCI Health chief medical officer and senior vice president. "The Leapfrog Group’s 'A' safety grade reflects the unwavering effort and dedication of one of the nation’s leading academic health systems."

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization with a 10-year history of assigning 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' 'D' or 'F' grades to general hospitals throughout the United States. The grades are based on a hospital’s ability to prevent medical errors and harm to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. The biannual Hospital Safety Grade results are based on more than 30 national performance measures and are updated each fall and spring.

Committed to its mission — Discover, Teach, Heal. — UCI Health persistently focuses on delivering top-tier care, with a special emphasis on patient safety and well-being. The Leapfrog accolade further solidifies the dedication of UCI Health dedication to serving the community.

In a 2019 analysis, the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality found 45,000 fewer deaths than a 2016 analysis, based on the prevalence of safety problems in hospitals graded by The Leapfrog Group.

The safety scores consider such factors as:

• How often a hospital gives patients recommended treatment for a given medical condition or procedure.
• The environment in which patients receive care (e.g., whether a hospital uses a computerized physician order entry system to prevent medication errors).
• What happens to a patient while receiving care (e.g., whether care teams left foreign objects in patients while undergoing surgery).

UCI Health and the medical center continue to be beacons of excellence in healthcare, as evidenced by numerous accolades in recent years, including being rated a top five performer in outpatient and inpatient care by Vizient Inc., a Medicare 4-star patient experience hospital and receiving its fifth Magnet designation for nursing excellence.

About UCI Health

UCI Health, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,317-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Medical Center, its flagship hospital in Orange, Calif., the UCI Health — Irvine medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Medical Center provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves nearly 4 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).

About the Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps for patient safety. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. For more, follow them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram and sign up for their newsletter.