Leapfrog requests public comments for planned updates to the 2026 and 2027 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade methodology.
Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades are issued twice per year, once in the spring and once in the fall, to nearly 3,000 acute care hospitals nationwide. Because these updates will not impact the fall 2025 Safety Grade, we are holding a 60-day public comment period. Comments on these planned changes may be submitted through October 14, 2025, using the directions below. Leapfrog will publish final methodology updates and responses to public comments by December 1, 2025.
Instructions to Submit a Public Comment (Deadline: October 14, 2025)
1. Visit https://leapfroghelpdesk.zendesk.com/
2. Click on "Submit a Request" on the top right-hand corner of the web page
3. Select “Hospital Safety Grade” as the name of the ratings program
4. Select "Submit a Public Comment" from the Safety Grade issue drop-down list
5. Include your public comments in the "Question” field
6. Click “Submit” after completing all required fields
Planned Updates for the Spring 2026 and Fall 2026 Safety Grades
- Methodology update in response to CMS’ temporary removal of Staff Responsiveness (H-COMP-3): Given a recent change to a question in the Staff Responsiveness domain of the HCAHPS Survey, CMS will pause the public reporting of the domain on Care Compare for one year starting with the October 2026 data refresh. In response to the pause, Leapfrog requests comment on a temporary scoring methodology change to address the absence of Staff Responsiveness (H-COMP-3) for the spring 2026 and fall 2026 Safety Grade cycles.
Planned Updates for the Spring 2027 and Beyond
- Methodology update in response to CMS’ permanent removal of PSI 4: CMS will replace PSI 4 (Death Rate among Surgical Inpatients with Serious Treatable Complications) with the new Failure-to-Rescue measure. In response to this change, Leapfrog will remove PSI 4 and add Failure-to-Rescue to the Safety Grade Methodology in spring 2027.
- NHSN update to the SIR model for healthcare-associated infections: Starting in spring 2027, the healthcare-associated infections (HAI) measures will likely be calculated using the NHSN 2022 baseline.
View and submit public comments here.