Leapfrog Hospital Quality Initiative

MABGH, in partnership with specific large employers, and the Virginia Health Care Coalition, has asked hospitals to participate in the Leapfrog survey, and work to meet Leapfrog standards.

The Leapfrog Group’s mission is to trigger giant leaps forward in the safety, quality and affordability of health care by:

1. Supporting informed healthcare decisions by those who use and pay for health care; and,
2. Promoting high-value health care through incentives and rewards.

Leapfrog drives four Leaps in Hospital Quality, Safety and Affordability:

1. Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE): CPOE has been shown to reduce serious prescribing errors in hospitals by more than 50%.
2. Evidence-Based Hospital Referral (EHR): By referring patients needing certain complex medical procedures to hospitals offering the best survival odds based on scientifically valid criteria — such as the number of times a hospital performs these procedures each year or other process or outcomes data — research indicates that a patient’s risk of dying could be reduced by 40%.
3. ICU Physician Staffing (IPS): Staffing ICUs with doctors who have special training in critical care medicine, called ‘intensivists’, has been shown to reduce the risk of patients dying in the ICU by 40%.
4. Leapfrog Safe Practices Score: The National Quality Forum-endorsed 30 Safe Practices cover a range of practices that, if utilized, would reduce the risk of harm in certain processes, systems or environments of care.

What can employers do?

1. Educate and inform enrollees about the safety, quality and affordability of health care and the importance of comparing the care health care providers give.
2. Recognize and reward health care providers for major advances in the safety, quality and affordability of their care.
3. Hold health plans accountable for implementing the Leapfrog purchasing principles.
4. Build the support of benefits consultants and brokers to use and advocate for the Leapfrog purchasing principles with all of their clients.

Resources: http://www.leapfroggroup.org