National Health Care Survey Gives UCLA Med Center Failing Grade

A national nonprofit organization which assesses hospital performance gave UCLA Medical Center a failing grade in a report issued Wednesday.

The Leapfrog Hospital Survey grades hospital performance based on national performance measures, including looking at things like preventable medical errors, injuries, and accidents. Hospitals are then given an A, B, C, D or F grade. UCLA received an F.

In addition, the hospital's Intensive Care Unit physician staffing was given a five out of a possible 100 score, according to a report by CBS Los Angeles.

UCLA medical officials dispute the grade and claim one 2010 patient death was able to skew results under Leapfrog's methodology, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"UCLA is not an F hospital in quality and safety," Tom Rosenthal, chief medical officer at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center told the Times. "It is not a fair scoring system and it does a disservice to the public."

Leapfrog's president and chief executive claimed UCLA scored poorly in several areas and that it was not just one incident that caused the center's low score, the Time reported.

The rating comes on the tails of a July hospital ranking published by U.S. News & World Report that named the center as the best hospital in California.

Nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center received an A in a June Leapfrog report but fell to a C on the report released Wednesday.