What does it take to earn and keep 'A' for safety

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What does it take to earn and keep ‘A’ for safety

By
Ann Schauer

May 6, 2026

Eight Mayo Clinic hospitals have maintained A grades from the Leapfrog Group since spring 2022, reflecting consistent high performance across national quality measures.

At Mayo Clinic, it’s not a single achievement, it reflects a sustained pattern of performance.

Patients may see a letter. What they are really seeing is a commitment to putting the patient first, every time. Because at Mayo Clinic, safety is not a score to achieve. It is a way to practice.

It looks like:

A nurse who double-checks, even when she’s certain.
A physician who pauses and asks one more question.
A housekeeper who knows infection prevention is part of patient care.
A team that doesn’t work in parallel, but in lockstep.

Over time, those choices add up. And they show up, again and again, in the Leapfrog Safety Grades.

Grade A hospitals

Eight Mayo Clinic hospitals again earned an "A" from The Leapfrog Group this spring.

Not once. Not occasionally. Every grading cycle since spring 2022.

And in Arizona, something even rarer. A perfect record. An "A" in every cycle since 2012, when Leapfrog began assigning safety grades — earning an all-time Straight A Distinction. One of just 11 hospitals in the country to do so.

Leapfrog evaluates hospitals using 32 measures across multiple domains: structure, process and outcomes.

Important, yes. But behind every measure is something harder to quantify.

It reflects consistency, discipline, and a shared belief that safe care isn’t situational. It is standard.

As Dr. William J. Mayo said, "The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered."

You can see that idea in these results. Not as a principle alone, but as a practice, carried out in thousands of decisions, every day.