Maine has the second-safest hospitals in the nation, according to a nonprofit group that evaluated nearly 3,000 hospital across the country.

According to findings from The Leapfrog Group, Maine is second only to Massachusetts in hospital safety.

Seventeen Maine hospitals here earned an “A” grade according to the Hospital Safety Score, which evaluates each hospital based on patient injuries, medical errors and infections.

Both Central Maine and St. Mary’s Regional medical centers scored an “A” in the evaluation. Franklin Memorial in Farmington scored a “B,” according to the Hospital Safety Score website.

Death due to hospital error is a silent epidemic, according to the Leapfrog Group, which revealed grim numbers in a news release. “Approximately 400 people die every day because of hospital errors — the equivalent of a jet crashing every day and killing all aboard.” The group did not cite a source for the numbers.

“According to recent studies, one in four Medicare patients will leave a hospital with a potentially fatal issue they didn’t have prior to hospitalization,” according to the release. “On average, one medication error per day occurs for each hospitalized patient, and more than 180,000 Americans die every year from hospital accidents, errors and infections.”

In all, 2,652 general hospitals were issued a Hospital Safety Score. Of those, 729 earned an “A” grade while 1,243 earned a “C” or below.

The financial news organization 24/7 Wall St.  analyzed the ratings and put together a list of the 10 states with the safest hospitals, using the percentage of hospitals in each state that were given an “A” grade, the number of hospitals with an “A,” life expectancy at birth and cancer rates per 100,000 people.

Massachusetts came out on top, with 76 percent of hospitals (a total of 47) given an “A.”

Other states on the top 10 list included Vermont, Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia, Michigan, California, Delaware and Minnesota.