Alameda Hospital Earns Its First A Grade Since 2024

Alameda Hospital just got its best patient safety grade in a year and a half. The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit watchdog that grades hospitals on how well they protect patients from preventable harm, gave the hospital an A in its spring 2026 report, released May 6. That's a jump from the string of Bs Alameda Hospital had pulled since 2025, and it's the hospital's first A since fall 2024.

What the Leapfrog safety grade actually measures

Leapfrog isn't rating bedside manner or how nice the waiting room looks. Its report card runs on more than 30 measurements covering things like medication errors, infections, and whether a hospital has the right systems in place to catch mistakes before they hurt someone. It's the only national report that grades hospitals on safety alone, and it comes out twice a year, every spring and fall.

Alameda Hospital hit the mark in three areas in particular: billing ethics, nursing and bedside care, and safe medication administration. It came up short in two others. Leapfrog says the hospital showed "limited achievement" on informed consent and "some achievement" on health care equity. In plain terms, that means there's still work to do on how clearly patients are told about risks before treatment, and on how evenly care gets delivered across different groups of patients.

Why this matters if you live in Alameda

If you or your family end up at Alameda Hospital, this grade is one of the few independent, apples-to-apples ways to check how it stacks up against hospitals anywhere else in the country. "This recognition affirms the rigorous standards and evidence-based practices our teams follow every day to deliver safe, high-quality care," said Dr. Lisa Laurent, the hospital's chief medical officer and chief physician executive.

James Jackson, CEO of Alameda Health System, which operates the hospital, credited the staff for the turnaround. "We believe every patient deserves outstanding care, and we are proud to deliver it in a setting that prioritizes safety, trust, and compassion," he said.

The bigger picture on hospital safety

California ranked 10th among all states for the share of hospitals earning an A grade this spring. Leapfrog says infection rates and medication safety systems have been improving nationwide since a peak in 2022, with central line infections down by half and serious antibiotic-linked intestinal infections down 30 percent. Alameda Hospital's skilled nursing unit picked up its own recognition recently too, landing on Newsweek's list of America's Best Nursing Homes.

Leapfrog updates its grades every six months, so Alameda Hospital's next shot at keeping the A comes this fall. In the meantime, check our events calendar for community health fairs and other ways to connect with the hospital and its staff.