St. Petersburg’s Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital Earns ‘A’ Grade for Patient Safety

St. Petersburg, FL (May 1, 2025) - For the first time since Orlando Health acquired its only hospital in Tampa Bay, Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital has earned an ‘A’ grade from the Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit organization committed to driving quality, safety and transparency in the United States health system.

Shortly after assuming operations in 2020, the hospital was rated at a ‘D’ in the Spring of 2021 cycle, which reflected data gathered for several years prior to Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital’s purchase. Orlando Health conducted a full assessment of healthcare quality and committed to work as quickly and thoroughly as possible to enhance quality for patients, the hospital and the St. Petersburg community.

“From the C-suite to our physicians, to colleagues responsible for cleaning, all team members have worked very consistently to improve patient safety and ensure each person has as good of an experience as possible during their stay at Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital,” said Jim Tucker, chief quality officer, Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital. “Orlando Health is known for bringing quality healthcare to the communities we serve, and we will continue to work diligently towards earning ‘A’ grades at all of our hospitals.”

Orlando Health South Lake Hospital also earned an ‘A’ grade for the 14^th time in a row. Orlando Health Horizon West Hospital and Orlando Health Melbourne Hospital earned ‘A’ grades in the spring 2025 reporting period.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program exclusively based on hospital prevention of medical errors, infections and injuries that cause more than 500 mortalities a day nationally. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public.

Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital, Orlando Health Lake Mary Hospital and Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital earned ‘B’ grades.

Hospitals acquired by Orlando Health in October 2024 received grades based on data submitted to the Leapfrog Group by previous owners. Grades for the five Baptist Health hospitals, located in Birmingham, Alabama, and Orlando Health Sebastian River Hospital, located on the east coast of Florida, – ranged from ‘B’ to ‘D’.

Due to the lag in clinical outcomes data available to national hospital rating services such as The Leapfrog Group, safety grades and quality rankings for these hospitals will be impacted by the previous owner’s data until at least 2027.

Immediately after the acquisitions, Orlando Health began the process of assessments and implementation of focused improvements that will elevate care for our patients to the high standard maintained in facilities throughout the rest of the healthcare system.

To view Orlando Health’s Leapfrog scores, visit the Hospital Safety Score website at www.hospitalsafetyscore.org

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health is a private not-for-profit, integrated academic healthcare system with $12 billion of assets under management, that serves the southeastern United States – including Florida and Alabama – and Puerto Rico. With corporate offices in Orlando, Florida the system provides a complete continuum of care across a network of medical centers and institutes, community and specialty hospitals, physician practices, urgent care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare, and long-term and behavioral health care services. Founded more than 100 years ago, Orlando Health’s mission is to improve the health and the quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve. The system provided nearly $1.7 billion in community impact in the form of community benefit programs and services, Medicare shortfalls, bad debt, community-building activities and capital investments in FY 23, the most recent period for which the information is available. For more information, visit orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter.)