California hospitals rank 6th safest in the U.S., report finds. See how San Diego hospitals scored

Did your hospital get an A or an F?

Leapfrog gave letter grades to nearly 3,000 hospitals across 50 states plus Washington, D.C. based on a range of patient safety measures.

Hospitals in California ranked 6th in the nation — tied with Rhode Island’s — for their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections. Nearly 45% of the 286 hospitals in the state received an “A” grade this fall, an increase from the 42.8% reported in Leapfrog’s spring rankings.

In the San Diego area, 12 hospitals achieved an “A” grade, six earned a “B” and one received a “C” grade.

Here are the grades for San Diego hospitals for Fall 2025:

• A: Kaiser Permanente – San Diego Medical Center
• A: Paradise Valley Hospital
• A: Scripps Green Hospital
• A: Scripps Memorial Hospital of Encinitas
• A: Sharp Grossmont Hospital
• A: UC San Diego Health La Jolla – Jacobs Medical Center and Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center
• A: Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center
• A: Naval Medical Center San Diego
• A: Palomar Medical Center Escondido
• A: Scripps Mercy Hospital of Chula Vista
• A: Scripps Mercy Hospital of San Diego
• A: UC San Diego Health East Campus – East Campus Medical Center
• B: Palomar Medical Center Poway
• B: Scripps Memorial Hospital of La Jolla
• B: Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center
• B: Sharp Coronado Hospital and Healthcare Center
• B: Sharp Memorial Hospital
• B: UC San Diego Health Hillcrest – Hillcrest Medical Center
• C: Tri-City Medical Center

This year’s fall grading from the patient safety organization suggests hospitals with higher grades tend to be part of a larger health system, which is a network of health care facilities that are owned or managed under a single parent organization.

The report shows 94% of hospitals that achieved an “A” grade were affiliated with a health system.

More than 830 hospitals earned an A grade, with the highest percentages found in Utah, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut and North Carolina. Iowa, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming had no hospitals with an “A” grade.

Leapfrog uses data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources to rank their hospitals, according to their website.

Based on that data, Leapfrog measures 22 aspects of patient health and safety. Then, Leapfrog says researchers weigh the evidence, opportunity for improvement and impact of each measure to calculate a grade. If data in in more than six categories is missing, Leapfrog won’t rank that hospital.

Leapfrog says you can use the ratings to find hospitals that prioritize patient safety, meaning hospitals got better grades if they had track records for preventing hospital-acquired infections, hand washing, training doctors, communicating about prescriptions and more.