Munson hospitals earn top Leapfrog safety grades, including Traverse City center

Munson Medical Center and three other Munson hospitals just landed on Leapfrog Group’s highest patient-safety tier, a rating that matters most in Grand Traverse County, where the Traverse City hospital is the region’s main referral center. Munson Healthcare said on May 7 that Cadillac Hospital, Grayling Hospital, Otsego Memorial Hospital in Gaylord and Munson Medical Center all earned an A in Leapfrog’s Spring 2026 Hospital Safety Grade review.

Leapfrog assigns grades from A to F and places A-rated hospitals in the top quartile nationally. For patients deciding where to go for surgery, emergency treatment or a loved one’s care, that letter grade becomes a quick signal about how well a hospital is protecting people from harm. It does not mean care is problem-free, but it does suggest Munson’s eligible hospitals performed well on the safety measures Leapfrog uses to compare hospitals.

The result carries added weight in Traverse City because Munson Medical Center is a 442-bed hospital and the largest hospital in northern Michigan, serving as a referral center for the entire region. Munson Healthcare says it is based in Traverse City, serves people in 29 counties and operates eight community hospitals. The health system also says it works with Mayo Clinic, Michigan Medicine, Corewell Health and Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, a network that shapes how serious cases move through northern Michigan.

The Leapfrog grade arrives as hospitals continue to face pressure on staffing, infection prevention and overall quality metrics. Munson’s own quality pages say it uses outside rankings and CMS Hospital Compare star ratings to monitor performance, and its Regional Care Transformation plan says all hospitals will remain open with 24/7 emergency care, observation care and limited inpatient care. That same plan says Munson had about 700 job openings and had added more than 2,000 new hires since January 2023, a reminder that safety scores and staffing realities are tightly linked.

The Spring 2026 grades also fit a broader pattern. Munson’s awards pages show the system had previously received a Leapfrog A grade in May 2023. Cadillac Hospital said it earned a sixth straight A in Fall 2025, while Grayling Hospital has also continued to post top marks. For families in Grand Traverse County, the headline is simple: Munson Medical Center is again being recognized for safety, but the deeper test remains whether infection rates, staffing levels and emergency care performance hold up when patients need them most.