Rozanna Penney, CEO of Heywood Healthcare stated: “We are encouraged to see a federal judge recognize that these survey practices can be misleading. Our community knows the quality of care delivered at Heywood Healthcare, but ratings that assign failing grades to hospitals that did not participate in a survey risk creating unnecessary fear and confusion for patients.”
Hammer Comes Down Hard on Leapfrog – Heywood Healthcare Pleased – COMPLETE COVERAGE
Heywood Healthcare was one of a number of hospitals in the nation maligned by Leapfrog Group when it did not participate in a survey. Leapfrog had a policy of punitively giving non-participants bad grades. This month a Federal judge in Florida ruled in favor of 5 Florida hospitals who took Leapfrog to court. Gardner Magazine has the details of the ruling, a statement from the plaintiffs’ law firm, and a statement from Heywood CEO Rozanna Penney. We also include a statement from Leapfrog that despite the judge’s sweeping ruling and the evidence which came out at trial, it is doubling down and intends to appeal.
Judge Rules Against Leapfrog Deceptive and Punitive Practices
Here is the ruling: The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida March 6 ruled in favor of five Florida hospitals in a case challenging the methodology used by the Leapfrog Group regarding hospital safety ratings. In particular, the court determined that Leapfrog’s methodology violated Florida’s unfair and deceptive business practices law. “Leapfrog’s change in methodology has no scientific basis, unfairly penalizes non-participating hospitals, and misrepresents hospital safety,” Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks wrote. The court’s injunction requires Leapfrog to cease assigning safety grades to hospitals, remove grades assigned to the plaintiff hospitals in 2024 and 2025, and issue corrective disclosures, along with other actions. Leapfrog has published a letter doubling down on its procedures and stating it will appeal the ruling: CLICK HERE.
This is what the firm said which represented the plaintiffs: “A Gibson Dunn team recently secured a sweeping bench-trial victory for five South Florida hospitals in a case against The Leapfrog Group, the nonprofit organization that publishes widely distributed A–F “Hospital Safety Grades.” The decision halts a widely disseminated hospital rating system the court found deceptive and punitive and reinforces limits on private organizations presenting ratings as measures of healthcare safety.
Following a five-day trial, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled that Leapfrog’s grading methodology for non-participating hospitals violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA). Judge Donald Middlebrooks held that Leapfrog’s methodology “has no scientific basis, unfairly penalizes non-participating hospitals, and misrepresents hospital safety,” concluding that Leapfrog’s conduct constituted “an unfair and deceptive business practice.”
The ruling provides significant relief for Gibson Dunn’s clients—Tenet Healthcare Corporation-owned hospitals Delray Medical Center, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, St. Mary’s Medical Center, and West Boca Medical Center—and addresses the use of ratings presented to the public as measures of hospital safety when, as the court found, they did not reflect actual hospital performance.
The court granted broad injunctive relief tailored to the conduct it found unlawful. The order requires Leapfrog to stop assigning grades to the five hospitals under the challenged or similar methodology, withdraw the Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Fall 2025 grades from its websites, send corrective disclosures to entities that licensed the grades, and include corrective disclosures in future licensing materials The injunction also prohibits Leapfrog from circumventing the relief by implementing substantially similar grading practices.”
Local Reaction: Locally, Heywood Healthcare was also a victim of Leapfrog and we reached out to Rozanna Penney after the ruling: Here is what Rozanna Penney, CEO of Heywood Healthcare stated: “We are encouraged to see a federal judge recognize that these survey practices can be misleading. Our community knows the quality of care delivered at Heywood Healthcare, but ratings that assign failing grades to hospitals that did not participate in a survey risk creating unnecessary fear and confusion for patients. At a minimum, organizations like Leapfrog should clearly indicate ‘did not participate,’ rather than issuing a low grade for an evaluation the hospital never took.”
Will Heywood take its own legal action? The simple answer is no and Penney explained why: “Unfortunately, there is currently no practical process for hospitals like ours to challenge a Leapfrog grade without significant legal pressure and expense, which simply isn’t feasible for organizations in our position. … Every dollar spent must be directed toward patient care, such as life-saving medications, essential equipment, clinicians, and employees who care for our community. “
Interestingly, Heywood Healthcare has actually received nearly a dozen accolades for quality care and we recently wrote an article about it. CLICK HERE. — Gardner Magazine wrote an editorial about Leapfrog at the time of Heywood’s victimization, CLICK HERE.
