1 San Diego County Hospital Earns 'C' Grade, 11 Earn 'A' Grades In New Hospital Safety Ranking

SAN DIEGO, CA — A new hospital safety report shows that 11 hospitals in San Diego County earned "A" grades for their ability to protect patients from often preventable harm.

The Leapfrog Group's Spring 2026 Hospital Safety Grades are a biannual ranking that assigns "A," "B," "C," "D" or "F" letter grades to all general hospitals in the United States based on their ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections.

In the San Diego area, there are five "straight A" hospitals, six "A" hospitals, eight "B" hospitals, and one "C" hospital, according to the ranking. No local hospitals received "D" or "F" grades.

These are the San Diego area hospital ratings, according to Leapfrog:

"Straight A"

• Kaiser Permanente - San Diego Medical Center, San Diego
• Paradise Valley Hospital, National City
• Scripps Green Hospital, La Jolla
• Scripps Memorial Hospital of Encinitas, Encinitas
• UC San Diego Health La Jolla - Jacobs Medical Center and Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, La Jolla

"A"

• Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center, San Diego
• Palomar Medical Center Poway, Poway
• Scripps Mercy Hospital of Chula Vista Scripps, Chula Vista
• Mercy Hospital of San Diego, San Diego
• UC San Diego Health East Campus - East Campus Medical Center, San Diego
• UC San Diego Health Hillcrest - Hillcrest Medical Center, San Diego

"B"

• Kaiser Permanente - San Marcos Medical Center, San Marcos
• Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego
• Palomar Medical Center Escondido, Escondido
• Scripps Memorial Hospital of La Jolla, La Jolla
• Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, Chula Vista
• Sharp Coronado Hospital and Healthcare Center, Coronado
• Sharp Grossmont Hospital, La Mesa
• Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego

"C"

• Tri-City Medical Center, Oceanside

California ranks 10th among all states for the percentage of hospitals receiving "A" grades in the spring 2026 report card.

Leapfrog said its biannual report — the only national ratings program focused exclusively on patient safety — shows improvement in 17 measures, including health care-associated infections, medication safety systems and patient experience.

"The good news is that hospitals across the country are making meaningful strides in patient safety and helping save countless lives," Leah Binder, the group's president and CEO, said in a news release.

After peaking in fall 2022, several health care-associated infections declined sharply, according to the report. Central line-associated bloodstream infections fell by half; catheter-associated urinary tract infections dropped 45 percent; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections declined 42 percent; and serious intestinal infections linked to antibiotic use went down 30 percent.

The report also found gains in medication safety. Use of computerized physician order entry systems, which can flag prescribing errors, rose from 66 percent of hospitals meeting Leapfrog standards in 2018 to 90 percent in 2025. Adoption of barcode medication administration systems increased from 47 percent to 93 percent over the same period.

Patient experience scores, measured through Medicare and other federal surveys, have improved since hitting a low in fall 2023, rising by about one point on average across five safety-related measures, including communication with nurses and doctors and responsiveness of hospital staff.

Among states, Connecticut, Virginia and South Carolina had the highest share of A-rated hospitals, followed by Utah, Montana, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and California. Montana and Maryland entered the top 10 for the first time, while Florida rose from 15th place in fall 2025 to seventh. No hospitals in North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont or Wyoming received an A grade.

About 450 hospitals were not assigned grades after a federal court ruling in South Florida involving several facilities that did not participate in Leapfrog's 2024 or 2025 survey. The group said it applied the change nationwide and is appealing the decision while reviewing its methodology.