Fourteen hospitals across the San Joaquin Valley received top marks in the spring 2026 hospital safety grades issued Wednesday by The Leapfrog Group, including seven facilities that were given “Straight A” ratings for sustaining A grades for more than two years.
The ratings are based on 22 measures of patient safety, which are calculated to numeric scores and then translated to letter grades on an A-to-F scale. Hospitals are asked to voluntarily report quality and safety data, much of which is derived from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The grading measures include infection control; surgery problems; practices taken to prevent errors including medication errors; and leadership, responsiveness and communication with patients by hospital staff and nurses.
The independent, nonprofit Leapfrog Group was founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers of health care services. It began issuing grades to hospitals twice a year starting in 2012, assigning letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety.
Valley hospitals receiving “Straight A” marks in the spring 2026 announcement are:
- Adventist Health, Hanford.
- Adventist Health, Selma.
- Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Bakersfield.
- Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Fresno.
- Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Manteca.
- Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Modesto.
- Mercy Medical Center, Merced.
Hospitals that were given A grades are:
- Adventist Health, Bakersfield.
- Adventist Health, Delano.
- Adventist Health Specialty, Bakersfield.
- Adventist Health, Tulare.
- Kaweah Health Medical Center, Visalia.
- Memorial Hospital, Los Banos.
- Memorial Medical Center, Modesto.
Letter grades of B were given to:
- Adventist Health Lodi Memorial, Lodi.
- Kern Medical Center, Bakersfield.
- Mercy Hospital Downtown, Bakersfield.
- Mercy Hospital Southwest, Bakersfield.
- St. Joseph’s Medical Center, Stockton.
- Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, Tracy.
Five Valley hospitals receiving C grades are:
- Clovis Community Medical Center, Clovis.
- Community Regional Medical Center, Fresno.
- Saint Agnes Medical Center, Fresno.
- San Joaquin General Hospital, French Camp.
- Sierra View District Hospital, Porterville.
Four hospitals did not participate in 2024 or 2025 Leapfrog surveys and were not assigned grades for the spring 2026 round. Those were:
- Dameron Hospital, Stockton.
- Doctors Hospital, Manteca.
- Doctors Medical Center, Modesto.
- Emanuel Medical Center, Turlock.
Neither Valley Children’s Hospital, a pediatric hospital in Madera, nor Madera Community Hospital, which was closed for two years before reopening in March 2025, were included in the grading. The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fresno, operated by the federal government, was also excluded.
Nationwide, the Leapfrog Group reported significant improvement in a range of measures of errors and infections. “The good news is that hospitals across the country are making meaningful strides in patient safety and helping save countless lives,” Leapfrog Group President and CEO Leah Binder said in a prepared statement.
Tim Sheehan is the Health Care Reporting Fellow at the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. The fellowship is supported by a grant from the Fresno State Institute for Media and Public Trust. Contact Sheehan at tim@cvlocaljournalism.org.