How safe are hospitals in Olympia? See latest grades for patient care

Looking for a hospital in Olympia, but unsure where to go?

The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization focused on increasing safety and transparency in the U.S. health system, issues Hospital Safety Grade reports twice a year for general hospitals across the United States.

Grades are based on hospitals’ ability to “protect patients from medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections,” The Leapfrog Group said.

The most recent report, released May 6, includes two hospitals in Olympia.

Here’s how local medical care centers scored:

How does The Leapfrog Group evaluate hospitals?

The Leapfrog Group grades hospitals on a scale from A to F, with A being the highest grade and F the lowest.

The grade system is the only hospital rating focused entirely on patient safety, according to a May 6 news release from The Leapfrog Group.

The nonprofit analyzes up to 22 measures in five key categories: infections, problems with surgery, safety problems, practices to prevent errors and doctors, nurses and hospital staff.

These measures, which include hand hygiene, air embolisms, in-hospital falls and communication factors, are used to determine a grade representing a hospital’s “performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors,” according to The Leapfrog Group’s methodology report.

Nine hospitals in the Evergreen State received “A” grades, according to The Leapfrog Group.

None of the 41 hospitals graded in Washington state received “F” grades.

Seven hospitals in Washington state were not given safety grades in the spring 2026 report, following a recent federal court ruling.

For its spring 2026 report, The Leapfrog Group said it did not assign grades to 450 hospitals nationwide that chose not to participate in its 2024 or 2025 survey. Instead, those facilities were labeled as “grade not assigned.”

Some hospitals are not evaluated at all, including critical access hospitals, rural emergency hospitals, mental health facilities and any hospitals missing too many scores in their dataset, The Leapfrog Group said.

How safe are hospitals in Olympia?

Both of the Olympia hospitals received the same grade in The Leapfrog Group’s spring 2026 report.

MultiCare Capital Medical Center, 3900 Southwest Capital Mall Drive in Olympia, received a “C” for patient safety.

It previously received “A” grades in spring 2024 and fall 2024, and “B” grades in the spring 2025 and fall 2025 reports.

MultiCare Capital Medical Center performed average or better than average in terms of preventing several surgical problems, including blood leakage and accidental tears. The hospital was below average when it came to preventing serious breathing problems.

The hospital scored average or below average when it came to fighting infections.

MultiCare Capital Medical Center’s error prevention practices were average or above average. The hospital excelled at handwashing, medication administration and staff working together to prevent errors, according to the report.

Providence St. Peter Hospital, 413 Northeast Lilly Road in Olympia, also received a “C” for safety.

This was the hospital’s seventh straight “C” grade, according to The Leapfrog Group.

In the infections category, Providence St. Peter Hospital performed average or below average in every measure but one, performing well at preventing MRSA infections.

The hospital scored below average for most of its efforts to prevent surgical problems, with higher marks for its work to stop blood leakages and dangerous objects left in patients.

How safe are hospitals in Tacoma?

More options are available to Olympia residents willing to drive about a half-hour for medical care.

In its spring 2026 report, The Leapfrog Group gave safety grades to four hospitals in Tacoma.

St. Joseph Medical Center, 1717 South J St. in Tacoma, received its sixth “A” grade in a row, earning it a “straight A” designation from The Leapfrog Group.

In each key category, the hospital scored higher than average in multiple measures, but below average in just one measure.

For example, St. Joseph Medical Center performed better than average in preventing blood and urinary tract infections, but scored worse in terms of preventing sepsis after surgery.

Madigan Army Medical Center, 9040 Jackson Ave. in Tacoma, also received an “A.”

The hospital excelled at staffing and practices to prevent errors.

MultiCare Allenmore Hospital, 1901 South Union Ave. in Tacoma, and Tacoma General Hospital at 315 Martin Luther King Jr. Way received “C” grades for safety.

MultiCare Allenmore Hospital did better than average in terms of preventing safety problems measures such as patient falls and collapsed lungs.

However, the hospital scored worse than average in almost every measure in the surgical problems category, including blood leakage, accidental cuts and serious breathing problems.

Meanwhile, Tacoma General Hospital generally performed worse than average for surgical problem prevention. The hospital scored better than average when it came to not leaving dangerous objects in patients’ bodies.

This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "How safe are hospitals in Olympia? See latest grades for patient care."