3 Ocean County Hospitals Earn ‘A’ Safety Grades in Latest Ratings

If you’ve ever spent time in a hospital, whether visiting a loved one or receiving care yourself, you know how much trust we place in the people and systems behind those walls in New Jersey.

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That’s why it’s such a big deal when our local hospitals are recognized for excellence, especially when it comes to something as important as patient safety.

This fall, all three major Ocean County hospitals in New Jersey earned an “A” from the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, the nationally respected system that evaluates nearly 3,000 hospitals across the country twice every year. And let’s be honest, that’s something worth bragging about.

What Makes This “A” So Impressive?

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade isn’t just a pat on the back. It’s considered the gold standard when it comes to patient safety ratings in the U.S. Hospitals are graded based on up to 30 national performance measures, including:

Preventing medical errors
Protecting patients from infections
Safety protocols
Effective staffing
Overall hospital responsiveness

These measures are pulled from sources like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, and several other validated supplemental datasets. An expert panel of patient-safety leaders guides Leapfrog in choosing the right measures and developing the scoring.

In short: these grades aren’t easy to earn.

And Ocean County Shined Brightly

Our three local hospitals didn’t just do well, they excelled:

Community Medical Center, Toms River – A cornerstone of care for countless families, and now officially an A-rated hospital for safety.
Ocean University Medical Center, Brick – Continues to lead with strong performance and dependable, high-quality patient care.
Southern Ocean Medical Center, Manahawkin – Serving the southern part of the county with excellence and now recognized nationally for its commitment to patient safety.

Why This Matters for All of Us

When local hospitals earn high marks, it’s more than a headline, it means safer care for our families, friends, and neighbors. It means skilled teams are preventing infections, catching potential complications early, and ensuring that every patient who walks in gets the safest, most reliable treatment possible.

And in a community as close-knit as Ocean County, that peace of mind means everything.

A Moment of Community Pride

So let’s take a moment to celebrate the doctors, nurses, support staff, administrators, and everyone behind the scenes who helped make these “A” grades possible. Their hard work isn’t always visible, but the results certainly are.

Congratulations to Community Medical Center, Ocean University Medical Center, and Southern Ocean Medical Center, three Ocean County hospitals making our community healthier, stronger, and safer every single day.

Here’s to great care close to home.

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