New Jersey hospitals have been steadily climbing the national ranks in terms of patient safety. NJ now ranks 15th in the nation for patient safety, up from 22nd last year. The national study was conducted by the Leapfrog group, which grades hospitals on a scale from A-D. Maine, Hawaii, Oregon, Wisconsin and Idaho ranked in the top five; North Dakota, Washington D.C., Delaware and Alaska were tied for 47th or last place, for earning no A’s, according to the report.

Of the 68 hospitals in NJ evaluated by the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit health care watchdog organization, 27 earned an A and 20 earned a B, up by two and five hospitals respectively since the last report issued in the fall.

There were 7 fewer C’s, and just three D’s, the same number since the last report, Leapfrog said.

Linda Schwimmer, president and CEO of the Health Care Quality Institute of New Jersey, which released the report with Leapfrog, said hospitals across the state have made operational changes to pull up their grades.

“We see again and again that hospitals that adopt the Leapfrog survey as a quality improvement tool and truly make patient safety a priority — from the CEO and down to every level of their institutions — consistently see improvements and high grades,” Schwimmer said.

The full list is available on NJ.com, where you can see how your hospital fared.