Important Information Regarding Patient Safety and The Leapfrog Group

Patient safety is one of the nation's most pressing health challenges. Since the publication of the Institute of Medicine's (an advisory group to the federal government) 1999 report on medical errors, To Err Is Human, public attention has focused on patient safety and the prevention of medical errors.

HIP is committed to educating our members about patient safety and currently has several initiatives in place to promote medical error reduction. HIP is complementing these initiatives by supporting The Leapfrog Group's efforts.

The Leapfrog Group is a growing consortium of Fortune 500 companies and other large private and public health care purchasers focused on helping consumers make more informed health care choices and encouraging more stringent patient safety measures. The Leapfrog Group is committed to using its collective purchasing power to help initiate breakthrough improvements in health care quality.

The three initial patient safety measures ("leaps") being promoted by The Leapfrog Group are:

• Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) - CPOE systems can eliminate errors caused by misreading or misinterpreting handwritten prescriptions. They also can intercept prescriptions that might result in adverse drug reactions. CPOE has been shown to reduce serious prescribing errors by more than 50%.
  
  
• Evidence-Based Hospital Referral (EHR) - For certain elective and complex procedures and treatments, referrals to hospitals and providers offering the best survival odds can reduce a patient's risk of dying by more than 30%.
  
  
• Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Physician Staffing - Staffing ICUs with physicians who have credentials in critical care medicine has been shown to reduce the risk of patients dying in the ICU by more than 10%.

For additional information on The Leapfrog Group, visit  www.leapfroggroup.org.