The Leapfrog Group on Wednesday published new results for its Hospital Safety Score, which grades more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals on quality and safety metrics such as error prevention and infection rates.

"Patient safety requires constant vigilance," said Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder in a statement announcing the Spring 2015 results.

That's why these latest scores, for the first time, are displayed alongside a hospital's previous letter grades for the past three years, offering patients an easy way to tell whether hospitals have shown consistent performance or continuous improvement.

[See also: Leapfrog: See list of hospitals that got failing grades for safety.] 

[See also: Leapfrog: See list of safest hospitals in the US.]

"More than 1,000 people die each day in the U.S. because of preventable hospital errors," said Binder. "While patients should always reference a hospital's current grade as the most important indicator of safety, it's wise to check whether their hospital is making improvements over time or if its focus on safety has begun to slide."

Among other key takeaways from the report:

• Of the 2,523 hospitals scorde, 782 earned an A; 719 earned a B; 859 earned a C; 143 earned a D and 20 earned an F.
• Hospitals have generally improved on some Hospital Safety Score process measures since this past fall, but have not improved on outcomes.
• Those measures showing an uptick? Computerized prescribing systems and perioperative safety process measures, among others.
• Maine was the state with the highest percentage of A hospitals.
• Washington, D.C., North Dakota and Alaska had no A-scoring facilities.

See the full searchable results here.

See also:

Top 10 patient safety concerns from ECRI

Top 15 health systems named by Truven