These are the best hospitals in Charlotte, report says. See the full list

North Carolina is now among the nation’s safest states for hospital care, according to a national watchdog.

The Leapfrog Group released its fall 2025 Hospital Safety Grades on Wednesday, Nov. 12, evaluating hospitals with letter grades from A to F. North Carolina earned the fifth‑safest ranking in the country — its highest since last fall — with 93 hospitals receiving safety scores.

Utah topped the list of states with the highest percentage of hospitals that received A grades for the fifth year in a row, followed by Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut and then North Carolina.

Here’s a closer look at how Charlotte hospitals fared, how Leapfrog determines grades, and what the scores really mean for patients.

What makes a hospital safe?

The Hospital Safety Grade rates U.S. general hospitals on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents, injuries, and infections that can harm patients.

Grades are based on around 30 safety measures, plus five patient‑experience factors that directly affect safety outcomes:

• Nurse communication
• Doctor communication
• Staff responsiveness
• Communication about medicines
• Discharge communication

Grades are assigned using publicly available data, and measures’ scores are calculated using patient responses to a national and standardized survey following a hospital visit, Leapfrog said.

Here are North Carolina’s Leapfrog safety rankings in recent years:

• No. 1 in spring 2022
• No. 7 in fall 2022
• No. 6 in spring 2023
• No. 3 in fall 2023
• No. 8 in spring 2024
• No. 4 in fall 2024
• No. 12 in spring 2025
• No. 5 in fall 2025

Report highlights ‘Straight A’ NC hospitals

For the second time, Leapfrog recognized hospitals that received A grades for five or more grading rounds, designating them as “Straight A” hospitals.

There are 14 “Straight A” hospitals in North Carolina, including four in the Charlotte area:

• Atrium Health Union (Monroe)
• Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center (Huntersville)
• Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center (Charlotte)
• Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center (Charlotte)

How safe are Charlotte-area hospitals?

The following Charlotte-area hospitals received A grades in Leapfrog’s Fall 2025 Hospital Safety Grades report:

• Atrium Health Cabarrus (Concord)
• Atrium Health Union (Monroe)
• Atrium Health Union West (Matthews)
• Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center (Huntersville)
• Novant Health Matthews Medical Center (Matthews)
• Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center (Charlotte)
• Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center (Charlotte)

“Our teams across Novant Health are dedicated to delivering safe, high-quality care to every patient, and we take great pride in that shared commitment,” Dr. David Priest, senior vice president and chief safety and quality officer at Novant Health, said in a news release.

These Charlotte hospitals received B grades:

• Atrium Health Pineville (Charlotte)
• Atrium Health Mercy (Charlotte)
• Carolinas Medical Center (Charlotte)
• CaroMont Regional Medical Center (Gastonia)

Atrium Health University City was the only Charlotte-area hospital with a C grade.

How are hospital safety grades calculated?

Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grades are assigned biannually — once in the spring and once in the fall. The Hospital Safety Grade program was established in 2012.

▪ Grades are assigned using letters, with A as the best possible grade and F as the worst.

▪ The overall grades are based on about 30 evidence-based measures of the basics of patient safety, including handwashing, entering prescriptions through a computer and the availability of highly trained nurses.

▪ The grades are assigned using data from various public sources, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

▪ Grades are generally assigned to nearly 3,000 hospitals. Any general, acute-care hospital in the U.S. for which there is enough publicly available data is included in the grading list.

▪ Individual scores that contribute to a hospital’s overall letter grade fall into five categories:

• Infections, including how often patients at the hospital contract MRSA, urinary tract infections, blood infections and more.
• Problems with surgery, including how often dangerous items are left in a patient’s body after surgery, how often surgical wounds split open and accidental cuts and tears.
• Safety problems, including patient falls and dangerous bed sores.
• Practices to prevent errors, including handwashing and safe medication administration.
• Doctors, nurses and hospital staff, including having enough qualified nurses and performing patient bedside care.

How should you use Leapfrogs’s hospital safety scores?

In a video explaining how to use the hospital safety grades, Leapfrog recommends using them to inform your decision when choosing a hospital or to learn more about hospitals in your area.

▪ Using Leapfrog’s search tool on the homepage at hospitalsafetygrade.org, you can search for hospitals by hospital name, city and state, just state, or by ZIP code.

▪ When you get to your results page, Leapfrog recommends looking for hospitals with the highest grade.

If there is more than one hospital with a good grade, consider other things that are important to you when seeking care, such as the hospital’s location and proximity to you.

If a hospital doesn’t have a good grade, Leapfrog recommends searching for another location or talking with your doctor about what you can do to stay safe in the hospital.

The overall letter grade for a hospital gives you the “big picture,” Leapfrog says. However, you can also see the individual scores that make up the hospital’s grade.

▪ If there are certain issues or risks you’re concerned about, make sure to check the hospital’s score on that measure. Leapfrog recommends always checking a hospital’s scores on handwashing, blood infections and patient falls.

▪ Each score the hospital receives is also listed with the best and worst score on that measure by any hospital and the average score for hospitals on that measure.

More information on how to use the Hospital Safety Grades can be found at hospitalsafetygrade.org/your-hospitals-safety-grade/how-to-use-the-grade.

How to stay safe during a hospital visit

Regardless of a hospital’s safety grade, Leapfrog recommends the following tips to stay safe if you need to receive care at a hospital:

▪ Bring someone with you when you arrive and when you’re discharged. If possible, also try to have someone visit every day of your stay.

The extra person can ensure that even when you’re groggy or tired, there’s someone there to be alert, ask questions, and advocate for your care. Hospitals might have patient advocates on staff who can also provide these resources.

▪ Be alert and say something. During your stay, you or your companion should take notes to keep track of what’s happening, including if hospital staff and your care team are washing their hands.

▪ Know your medications. Leapfrog recommends keeping track of which medications you’re taking during your stay and why you’re taking them.

Don’t be afraid to ask your care team for this information. You can also request that your care team cross-check your name with your medications before giving them to you to prevent possible mix-ups.

This story was originally published November 13, 2025 at 3:57 PM.

Evan Moore

The Charlotte Observer

Evan Moore is a service journalism reporter for the Charlotte Observer. He grew up in Denver, North Carolina, where he previously worked as a reporter for the Denver Citizen, and is a UNC Charlotte graduate.