For the 12th consecutive time, Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox has been awarded an “A” for patient safety from The Leapfrog Group.

This national distinction recognizes Silver Cross Hospital’s efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care.

The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization committed to health care quality and safety.

The Safety Grade assigns letter grades of ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘F’ to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms.

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. acute-care hospitals twice per year.

The Leapfrog’s grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

To see more details on Silver Cross Hospital’s performance, and to access consumer-friendly tips for patients, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow The Leapfrog Group on Twitter and Facebook.