The Business Council has joined the Leapfrog Initiative, a high-profile initiative led by the national business community to leverage the purchasing power of employers to promote improvements in health-care quality and patient safety.
The Council has been invited to join the steering committee for the initiative's efforts in New York. Larry Becker, director of benefits for the Xerox Corporation, is spearheading New York's initiative.
The Leapfrog Group, which was created by the Business Roundtable, was founded in 2000. It includes more than 100 Fortune 500 corporations and other large private-sector health-benefits purchasers, representing more than 31 million enrollees.
It has rolled out a major patient safety improvement initiative in 19 regions around the state, including Rochester and metropolitan New York City.
The Leapfrog Group supports the adoption of three proven standards to prevent medical mistakes in hospitals:
- Use of computerized prescription systems.
- Emphasis on choosing hospitals with the best results or extensive experience for high-risk conditions and procedures.
- The staffing of Intensive Care Units with specialists trained in critical care.
Research shows that these three improvements could save up to 58,300 lives per year, and prevent 522,000 medication errors, if implemented by all non-rural hospitals in the United States, said Elliott Shaw, director of government affairs for The Council and its health-care lobbyist
For information, visit www.leapfroggroup.org.