Florida district court rules Leapfrog used deceptive practices for hospital safety rating system
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida March 6 in favor of five Florida hospitals in a case challenging the methodology used by the Leapfrog Group regarding hospital safety ratings. In particular, the court determined that Leapfrog鈥檚 methodology violated Florida鈥檚 unfair and deceptive business practices law. 鈥淟eapfrog鈥檚 change in methodology has no scientific basis, unfairly penalizes non-participating hospitals, and misrepresents hospital safety,鈥 Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks wrote. The court鈥檚 injunction requires Leapfrog to cease assigning safety grades to hospitals, remove grades assigned to the plaintiff hospitals in 2024 and 2025, and issue corrective disclosures, along with other actions.