Which southwest IL hospitals are the safest? Watchdog group releases latest grades

A national watchdog group recently scored two metro-east hospitals lower on patient safety compared to a similar spring report.

Some metro-east and St. Louis region hospitals performed below average on things like infection control, surgical safety and patient falls in an autumn 2025 patient safety report from The Leapfrog Group

The organization is a nonprofit that provides ratings and safety data for hospitals. It recently released grades for nearly 3,000 short-term, acute care hospitals across the country. The grades are updated twice each year, in the spring and fall.

HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese received a C this fall, compared to a B in the spring grading cycle. Anderson Hospital’s grade also declined from a B to a C. Additionally none of eight facilities in the immediate metro-east region saw improved grades.

One received an A grade: OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton. The hospital has received A grades in four consecutive cycles.

Nationwide, Leapfrog gave fewer hospitals As and Cs this fall, and more Bs compared to the spring report.

The group calculates its hospital safety grades on a combination of voluntary surveys and mandatory reporting from third-party sources, such as the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Seven of eight local hospitals in the metro-east declined to complete Leapfrog’s voluntary survey. OSF Saint Anthony’s in Alton was the only facility to respond.

For the seven hospitals that did not participate, data is unavailable for some metrics that rely on self reporting. After a methodology change in fall 2024, Leapfrog assigns hospitals the lowest score for some areas that rely on self-reporting when hospitals decline to participate in the survey. Below, those categories are not listed as areas where hospitals were scored below average since actual data is not available.

Illinois moved up in the state rankings this fall for the greatest percentage of “A” hospitals, with an increase from 32.1% to 32.4%, bringing the state from 20th to 17th in the nation.

Across the U.S., health care-acquired infection rates are showing continued improvement after a major spike during the pandemic, Leapfrog Group program analyst Alex Campione said in a recent interview with the News-Democrat.

Hospitals are also seeing a general improvement in Leapfrog’s hand-washing metric, which focuses on training and monitoring. While some metrics have seen overall improvement recently, one important metric has not yet recovered from COVID.

“Hospitals are improving in patient experience, but many hospitals are still behind from where they were prior to the pandemic,” Campione said.

One possible reason for the declined patient experience is staffing shortages, Campione added. Health care worker shortages have been rampant nationwide for years, due in part to frequent staff burnout and increased turnover.

“If health care providers are stretched thin, then they don’t have that time to spend with patients, that kind of quality time where a patient feels heard and they’re able to communicate either their medications or the discharge information that’s so crucial to providing safe care,” Campione said.

While some U.S. hospitals are struggling with patient experience, several metro-east facilities performed well in communication measures.

Here’s what else to know about how southwest Illinois hospitals performed in Leapfrog’s latest grading cycle, plus how to interpret ratings and which areas should be most heavily considered.

Memorial Hospital Belleville

Fall 2025 grade: C

Spring 2025 grade: C

Fall 2024 grade: C

Here are the areas in which Memorial Hospital Belleville scored below average this fall:

• Infection in the blood
• Surgical wounds split open
• Serious breathing problem

Data was unavailable for seven metrics due to a lack of reporting.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Fall 2025 grade: C

Spring 2025 grade: C

Fall 2024 grade: C

Here are the areas in which Barnes-Jewish Hospital scored below average this fall:

• C. diff infection
• Infection in the blood
• Surgical wound splits open
• Kidney injury after surgery
• Collapsed lung

Data was unavailable for seven metrics due to a lack of reporting.

“BJC HealthCare is committed to patient safety as one of our core values. We support efforts to make quality outcomes data broadly available to patients and to the public. We encourage people to seek out performance data on Medicare’s Care Compare site. We are committed to transparency by providing links to this information on the BJC website,” BJC spokesperson Sammie Hill wrote in an emailed statement to the BND.

“The Leapfrog program is based on analysis that is a composite of process and outcome measures, with most of the process data obtained from hospitals’ own responses to a self-reported survey. We have concerns about relying on methodologies that utilize self-reporting on questionnaires, particularly those such as Leapfrog’s survey in which the self-reported data carries a significant impact in the overall results. For these reasons, BJC HealthCare hospitals have never participated in the Leapfrog survey.”

“We believe our approach — based on objective measures and careful ongoing evaluation of outcomes — is a more effective way to improve patient safety and that our rigorous discipline and improvement processes over the years have made significant impact on improving quality of care across our facilities. All BJC hospitals are committed to providing the highest standard of care every day for every patient.”

Memorial Hospital Belleville and Barnes-Jewish Hospital are part of the BJC system.

HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon

Fall 2025 grade: C

Spring 2025 grade: C

Fall 2024 grade: C

Here are the areas in which HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon scored below average this fall:

• Blood leakage
• Collapsed lung

Data was unavailable for seven metrics due to a lack of reporting.

HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese

Fall 2025 grade: C

Spring 2025 grade: B

Fall 2024 grade: B

Here are the areas in which HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese scored below average this fall:

• C. diff infection
• Patient falls and injuries

Data was unavailable for 16 metrics in total; seven due to a lack of reporting and nine for unrelated reasons.

“HSHS is committed to providing quality patient care and continues to proactively manage and measure internal quality improvement initiatives that lead to positive patient outcomes,” HSHS spokesperson Kelly Barbeau wrote in an email. ”There are a variety of health care quality rating organizations that publish hospital quality scores, each relying on different data and sometimes lagging metrics, which can lead to confusion. We encourage patients and families to discuss care options with their physicians and care teams to make informed decisions.”

Gateway Regional Medical Center

Fall 2025 grade: D

Spring 2025 grade: D

Fall 2024 grade: D

Here are the areas in which Gateway Regional Medical Center scored below average this fall:

• C. diff infection
• Blood leakage
• Communication about medicines
• Communication about discharge
• Communication with doctors
• Communication with nurses
• Responsiveness of hospital staff

Data was unavailable for 14 metrics: seven due to a lack of reporting and seven for unrelated reasons.

The BND has contacted staff with Gateway Regional Medical Center for comment.

Anderson Hospital

Fall 2025 grade: C

Spring 2025 grade: B

Fall 2024 grade: C

Here are the areas in which Anderson Hospital scored below average this fall:

• Accidental cuts and tears
• Patient falls and injuries

Data was unavailable for eight metrics: seven due to a lack of reporting and one for unrelated reasons.

“Anderson Hospital participates in reporting quality information so it is available to the public. It’s important to note that there are many different reporting agencies, each with their own methodologies and criteria for evaluating hospitals,” spokesperson Natalie Head wrote in an emailed statement. “We encourage individuals to consider multiple sources when evaluating our performance. Anderson Hospital completed its triennial accreditation with the Joint Commission in 2024, which is the gold standard of accreditation.

“We are proud to share that Anderson Hospital continues to be recognized for delivering exceptional care and outstanding outcomes. Recently, the Gateway Business Health Coalition honored our organization for achieving both high quality and low cost— a reflection of our ongoing commitment to providing value-based care to our community.

“Earlier this year we celebrated the fourth consecutive year of being recognized by Newsweek as one of the World’s Best Hospitals. This recognition places Anderson Hospital among the top 4% of hospitals in the United States. Out of 410 U.S. hospitals named to the list, Anderson ranked at #250. Even more impressively, of the 230 hospitals in Illinois, only 21 made the list — and Anderson Hospital is one of them!”

OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton

Fall 2025 grade: A

Spring 2025 grade: A

Fall 2024 grade: A

Here are the areas in which OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton scored below average this fall:

• Blood leakage
• Serious breathing problem

Data was unavailable for six metrics, not due to any lack of reporting.

“This is by no means a small accomplishment. It takes a total mind set of being ‘all in’ from our physicians, nurses and staff of making the commitment — and then a daily demonstration of discipline — to providing the safest, high-quality care to those we serve every day,” OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony’s Health Center president Zach Yoder wrtote in an email. “Receiving the highest grade from The Leapfrog Group for four consecutive reporting periods is validation of the diligent patient-centered work of our Mission Partners and we support the transparency about quality and safety that the Leapfrog grades provide. Our team at OSF Saint Anthony’s understands and embraces the need for continuous improvement. Our work is not and never will be finished. Our goal will continue to be receiving an ‘A’ grade because that’s what our patients in the Riverbend region expect and deserve.”

SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia

Fall 2025 grade: C

Spring 2025 grade: C

Fall 2024 grade: C

Here are the areas in which SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia scored below average this fall:

• Sepsis infection after surgery
• Blood leakage

Data was unavailable for 12 metrics: seven due to a lack of reporting and five for unrelated reasons.

The BND has contacted staff with SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia for comment.

How are hospital grades calculated?

Safety grades are calculated using up to 22 national safety measures from the Leapfrog survey, U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other data sources. The full methodology is available online and peer-reviewed and published by the Journal of Patient Safety. There were no changes to the methodology this fall compared to the spring, Campione said.

Grades are composed 50% by process and structural measures and 50% by outcome measures. The scoring scales differ by the chosen measure.

Leapfrog emphasizes you should not refuse emergency care based on hospital ratings. The group intends the scores to be used when planning things like childbirth, surgery referrals or chronic illness treatment.

Some of the areas you should pay special attention to when choosing a hospital include hand-washing, infection in the blood and patient falls, Leapfrog’s website says. Campione said while all the measures are important, she would pay particular attention to health care-acquired infection rates.

You should also consider how far off your hospital was from the average for any given standard. When evaluating, you can see the highest and lowest scores given, which helps in weighing a value.

For hospitals that responded to Leapfrog’s survey, there’s often information available about which areas the hospital has improved in and which areas are not trending in the right direction.

A hospital being ungraded does not denote a lack of safety. Ratings are often unavailable for smaller providers, children’s hospitals, surgical centers and critical access hospitals. Leapfrog allows you to search for hospitals by name, location or state.

Do you have a question about health care in Illinois for the News-Democrat? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out our Metro-east Matters form below.

Meredith Howard

Belleville News-Democrat

Meredith Howard is a service journalist with the Belleville News-Democrat. She is a Baylor University graduate and has previously freelanced with the Illinois Times and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Support my work with a digital subscription