WEEKLY UPDATE: 05/07/26
Connecticut hospitals have once again demonstrated excellence in patient safety, earning the number one ranking in the nation in the Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2026 Hospital Safety Grade State Rankings. This distinction reflects years of sustained, statewide investment in quality improvement, collaboration, workforce training, and innovation, and it underscores the dedication of our healthcare professionals who always put patients first. Their unwavering commitment to quality and safety forms the foundation of each interaction, conversation, and decision, which in turn shapes patient experience.
Fifteen years ago, Connecticut hospitals became the first in the nation to coalesce around a unified, statewide mission to center patient and workforce safety in all we do. This high reliability organization (HRO) initiative was set in motion in 2011 and continues to this day as HRO Forward.
Connecticut hospitals have adopted proactive methods to eliminate preventable patient harm and protect the healthcare workforce. They’ve established systems to anticipate risks, investigate problems, adjust practices, and measure progress. Hospital leaders and staff, clinical and nonclinical, embrace patient safety as everyone’s responsibility, regardless of role.
Now, with HRO principles firmly cemented into the bedrock of care delivery, hospital teams are sharpening their focus on opportunities to reinforce HRO fundamentals through continuous, consistent education informed by the latest safety science. A core value of HRO Forward is cultivating a fair and just culture where staff feel empowered to speak up, challenge assumptions, anticipate risks, and incorporate patient, family, and community perspectives in care delivery.
HRO Forward is moving into its next iteration with a statewide commitment to integrating psychological safety into our teams. The evidence supporting psychological safety is clear: teams perform better, outcomes improve, safety is enhanced, and staff retention is strengthened. Encouraging staff to speak up, ask questions, and raise concerns with professional candor helps our hospitals continue to raise the bar on quality and care for our patients.
In parallel with HRO Forward, Connecticut hospitals have also worked together to strengthen infection prevention efforts and hold one another accountable for ongoing improvement — a collaboration that has translated into meaningful results. Recently released national data show Connecticut has achieved pronounced declines in C. diff, CLABSI, CAUTI, and MRSA infection rates, outperforming regional peers in several key measures.
Advancing quality and safety requires enduring, intentional, collective commitment. Connecticut hospitals are propelling our state’s healthcare delivery system into the future and elevating the standard of excellence that patients have come to expect, everywhere they receive care.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade was launched in 2012 and assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety. National data from the spring 2026 Safety Grade shows significant improvement in 17 measures of errors and infections. This includes healthcare-associated infections, barcode medication administration, computerized physician order entry, and five patient experience measures that directly impact patient safety outcomes: Nurse Communication, Doctor Communication, Staff Responsiveness, Communication about Medicine, and Discharge Information.
