A recent HealthGrades study names Cleveland as one of the top 10 U.S. cities with the safest hospitals. Toledo also made the list, along with Minneapolis-St. Paul, Boston, and Honolulu.

The study analyzed 40 million Medicare patient records from 2007 to 2009 and used the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's 13 patient safety indicators to identify the top performing hospitals in the nation. The patient safety indicators include incidents such as "foreign objects left in a body following a procedure, excessive bruising or bleeding as a result of surgery, bloodstream infections from catheters, and bed sores."

Hospital-acquired bloodstream infections are one of the most prevalent safety issues hospitals face. "HealthGrades found that patients treated at those hospitals performing in the top 5% in the nation for patient safety were, on average, 30% less likely to contract a hospital acquired bloodstream infection and 39% less likely to suffer from post-surgical sepsis than those treated at poor-performing hospitals. Nearly one in six patients who acquired a bloodstream infection while in the hospital died, the study found."

Due to the high frequency of preventable medical errors in U.S. hospitals, the federal government has proposed linking certain patient safety indicators to incentive-based hospital compensation, starting in 2014.

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