Norwalk Community Hospital Gets Near-Failing Safety Grade

The Leapfrog Group released its Spring 2026 Hospital Safety Grades on May 6, and Norwalk Community Hospital in Los Angeles County received a D, one step above the lowest possible grade. The rating applies to the 13222 Bloomfield Ave. hospital listed by Leapfrog as Norwalk Community Hospital, which is also identified on its website as Los Angeles Community Hospital at Norwalk. Leapfrog’s public page shows Norwalk’s current score at 0.764 and labels the grade as Spring 2026. The same hospital had an F in Fall 2025, according to Leapfrog’s archived detail table. ### How unusual is a D grade in this cycle? Leapfrog’s Spring 2026 methodology document says 55 hospitals nationwide received a D and five received an F out of 2,363 graded hospitals. That means D grades accounted for about 2% of graded hospitals, while F grades were less than 1%, according to the group’s explanation of grades. Norwalk’s move from F to D improved its letter grade, but it remained in the bottom tier of hospitals that were graded this cycle. (hospitalsafetygrade.org) California had four D-rated hospitals in the Spring 2026 cycle, according to published reports that cited the state’s results, and no F-rated hospitals. Leapfrog’s state rankings also placed California 10th nationally by share of A hospitals, with 39.8% of hospitals in the state earning an A. (hospitalsafetygrade.org) ### What does Leapfrog say the grade measures? Leapfrog says its biannual Hospital Safety Grade is based on a hospital’s ability to protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections. The nonprofit says the Spring 2026 grade used up to 22 evidence-based measures drawn from public data sources and the Leapfrog Hospital Survey. Those measures include infections, medication safety, patient experience and other safety practices. (newsbreak.com) The Spring 2026 explanation of grades says hospitals that did not participate in the 2024 or 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Survey were not assigned grades and were listed as GNA, or grade not assigned. Norwalk was graded, and Leapfrog’s ratings page says the hospital “did not participate” in the survey while still displaying measure-level results from public sources and other inputs used in the grade. (leapfroggroup.org) ### Which measures stood out on Norwalk’s page? Norwalk’s Spring 2026 page shows a hospital score of 0.764, compared with an average hospital score of 0.657, where lower infection ratios on some listed measures indicate fewer infections than expected and higher ratios indicate more than expected. On the same page, Leapfrog lists Norwalk’s MRSA infection measure at 1.469 and its C. diff infection measure at 2.335, both above 1.0. (hospitalsafetygrade.org) The page also shows “Not Available” for some measures, including infection in the blood and some surgery-related infections. The Fall 2025 detail table for Norwalk shows the hospital at 0.169 for patient falls and injuries per 1,000 discharges, versus an average of 0.338, and 0.000 for retained foreign object and air embolism. That older table also listed “Not Available” for infection in the blood. Leapfrog’s documents say grades combine multiple outcome and process measures rather than any single indicator. (hospitalsafetygrade.org) ### Why did some hospitals not get graded at all? Leapfrog said in its Spring 2026 materials that 450 hospitals were marked GNA because they did not participate in the 2024 or 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Survey. A federal court ruling in South Florida was cited in Leapfrog’s Spring 2026 press materials as the reason the group was not assigning grades to those nonparticipating hospitals this cycle. Norwalk was not in that category because Leapfrog posted a letter grade for it. (hospitalsafetygrade.org) ### Where can patients check the underlying data? Leapfrog posts Norwalk’s current grade, prior grade history and measure-level detail on its Hospital Safety Grade site. The hospital’s public page links to Medicare’s Care Compare for additional federal quality information. Leapfrog said its next hospital safety update will follow its usual twice-yearly schedule, with another grading round expected in fall 2026. (hospitalsafetygrade.org) (hospitalsafetygrade.org)