Florida hospitals sue nonprofit over ‘pay-to-play’ safety rankings
Five hospitals in South Florida are suing a nonprofit that issues national safety rankings for healthcare facilities, alleging that the group operates a “brazen pay-to-play scheme” through the sale of “memberships.”
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Southern District Court of Florida in West Palm Beach, Tenet Healthcare—the for-profit owner of all five hospitals—accuses the Leapfrog Group of deceptive practices, saying the patient safety watchdog issues favorable ratings to those who share their internal data and cut the organization a check.
Represented by Good Samaritan Medical Center, Delray Medical Center, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, West Boca Medical Center and St. Mary’s Medical Center, Tenet is seeking $75,000 in damages after all five received low ratings from the Leapfrog, which has conducted its A-to-F safety rankings for more than 20 years.
Tenet claims the Leapfrog's operation violates consumer protection laws and is tantamount to an extortion scheme, in which hospitals are pushed to “participate and pay, or else suffer devastating and misleading” consequences in the form of low, publicly available safety scores.
The court filing states that in 2024, the nonprofit “rigged its methodology” for conducting patient safety surveys, punishing hospitals that do not share their data for the process.
“Leapfrog’s so-called grades are not grounded in credible science or independent analysis—they are riddled with falsehoods, distorted by undisclosed financial incentives, and misused to pressure hospitals and mislead the public,” the hospitals wrote in a joint statement. “This is not transparency—it’s a marketing scheme masquerading as public health advocacy.”
“Patients are the ones who suffer most when misinformation is passed off as fact,” they added.
Nonprofit vows to 'win in court, as we always do'
Leapfrog outright denies the claims in the lawsuit, stating that its experts use publicly available data provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for their analysis, ultimately scoring hospitals without factoring in membership status.
“Leapfrog will win in court, as we always do. But nobody wins at the bedside, where patients are needlessly at risk for suffering and even death because these hospitals have not done enough to protect them,” Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder said in a response. “Instead of using their resources to file frivolous lawsuits, they should be improving how their patients are treated.”
Binder accuses Tenet and its hospitals of attempting to “suppress publication of critical information their patients deserve to know.”
The Leapfrog Group states that its assessments are based on 20 factors, including rates of preventable errors that harm patients. It adds that any data provided by hospitals is submitted voluntarily, and the organization does not pressure anyone to pay.
Binder added that the plaintiffs received low D and F grades because the facilities are “performing far worse than other hospitals across the country in protecting their patients from preventable errors and accidents,” not because they chose not to share their data or purchase a membership.
The lawsuit, filed on April 30, has yet to move forward and Leapfrog is seeking to have it dismissed.
Leapfrog’s latest rankings are available for free on its website and can be found here.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.