UPDATE: Legal action taken against The Leapfrog Group regarding hospital safety grades
The Florida district court has made a ruling in the case of Delray Medical Center, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, West Boca Medical Center, and St. Mary’s Medical Center vs. The Leapfrog Group.
The five hospitals took legal action after The Leapfrog Group published their Spring 2025 Hospital Safety Grades. They called the grading system “flawed,” according to an announcement.
The hospitals, Delray Medical Center, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, West Boca Medical Center, and St. Mary’s Medical Center, are all part of Palm Beach Health Network. They claimed the grades are “inaccurate, corrupt, and misleading,” and are potentially harmful to patients.
According to their release, the hospitals tried multiple times to “engage with The Leapfrog Group to address concerns regarding its flawed rating methodology.” They claimed the organization “changed their criteria to deliberately fail non-participating hospitals” last year. The hospitals say the ratings given to those that do not fill out Leapfrog’s hospital survey do not “accurately reflect hospitals’ performance or patient outcomes.”
Additionally, the hospitals accused Leapfrog of selling better grades. The complaint was announced on April 30.
On March 6th, the United States District Court- Southern District of Florida ruled that “Leapfrog’s approach constitutes an unfair and deceptive business practice in violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Fla. Stat. § 501.201 et seq.” Leapfrog Group must now take certain corrective actions including changing their methodology to fairer practices and deleting the unfair grades from Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Fall 2025.
This page has been updated as of March 13, 2026.
