How safe are hospitals in the Merced area? See latest health grades
A new national report has graded hospitals across the country — including two in Merced County — based on patient safety and quality of care.
The rankings come from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization that evaluates hospital safety across the country and releases updated Hospital Safety Grades twice a year.
In its latest report, released May 6, the organization said hospitals nationwide continue to make progress in improving patient safety.
“The good news is that hospitals across the country are making meaningful strides in patient safety and helping save countless lives,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in the report. “But not all hospitals are the same. That’s why it’s so important for people to consult Safety Grades and do their research when choosing a hospital.”
The report grades medical care facilities on a scale from A to F, such as medical errors, infections and injuries, with A being the highest grade and F the lowest.
How safe are the hospitals in Merced County?
Here’s how The Leapfrog Group graded Merced-area hospitals in its spring 2026 report:
How safe are Merced County hospitals?
Out of 285 California hospitals evaluated, The Leapfrog Group assigned grades to two hospitals in Merced County.
Memorial Hospital Los Banos, 520 West I St. in Los Banos, received an “A” grade in the spring 2026 report.
The hospital scored better than average in several patient safety categories, including handwashing practices and safe medication administration.
It scored lower in terms of communication among doctors and nurses about discharge instructions.
Mercy Medical Center, 333 Mercy Ave. in Merced, also earned an “A” grade for patient safety in the new report.
The hospital received strong scores for its work to prevent safety problems such as blood clots and dangerous bed sores, but received lower ratings for practices to prevent errors, such as handwashing and communication about discharge instructions.
Why didn’t some California hospitals get safety grades?
Some California hospitals were not given safety grades in this spring’s report, following a recent court ruling.
A federal court ruled in favor of five Florida hospitals, finding that The Leapfrog Group’s methodology violated Florida’s unfair and deceptive business practices law, according to the American Hospital Association.
For its spring 2026 report, The Leapfrog Group said it did not assign grades to 450 hospitals nationwide that chose not to participate its survey.
Instead, those facilities were labeled as “grade not assigned.”
In California, 18 hospitals did not have grades assigned for spring 2026. They included Doctors Medical Center and Emanuel Medical Center in Stanislaus County.
“We are confident the court’s decisive ruling will be upheld, and Leapfrog will not escape accountability for harming our patients and our community hospitals,” Maggie Gill, Eastern group president of the Palm Beach Health Network, which includes the hospitals named in the suit, told The Sacramento Bee in a statement.
The Leapfrog Group said it is appealing the ruling and reviewing its grading process “to ensure the Hospital Safety Grade continues to be useful for consumers.”
“Our focus remains on advancing transparency, accuracy, and fairness for the benefit of patients and the broader healthcare system,” Gill said. “We encourage Leapfrog to put patients first and focus on reforming its methodology to be fair and responsible.”
How did The Leapfrog Group come up with rankings?
The Leapfrog Group assigns hospitals a grade from A to F “based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections.”
These grades are calculated using about 30 national performance measures sourced from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey and other data.
Under the guidance of a panel of patient safety experts, The Leapfrog Group selected about two dozen evidence-based measures, grouped into five key categories, to create its scoring methodology.
Those categories are:
- Infections
- Problems with surgery
- Safety problems
- Practices to prevent errors
- Doctors, nurses and hospital staff
“You should never refuse care in an emergency because of a hospital’s Safety Grade, but use this website as a guide for planned events and a research tool for potential emergencies,” The Leapfrog Group said on its website.
