UCI Health — Orange receives ‘A’ grade for patient safety and quality care

Flagship hospital of the academic health system recognized for 21st time since 2014

Orange, Calif. — UCI Health — Orange, the flagship hospital part of the UCI Health academic health system, received an ‘A’ grade in the spring 2026 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.

This is the 21st time since 2014 that the hospital has received this grade. It highlights the academic health system’s ongoing commitment to top-tier patient safety and quality care, consistently placing it among the top 32% of hospitals nationwide.

“A core UCI Health priority is to provide safe, high-quality care that improves the health of all patients,”  said Dr. Joseph C. Carmichael, UCI Health chief medical officer and senior vice president.  “The Leapfrog A grade validates our commitment as Orange County’s only academic health system of prioritizing patient safety and quality care to the community that is grounded in research excellence and innovation.”

UCI Health and the Orange hospital 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.

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)

About The Leapfrog Group

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization with a 12-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.

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.