Leapfrog Announces New Partner Member: USC Consulting Group

The Leapfrog Group and USC Consulting Group, LLC, will collaborate on two projects designed to drastically improve the safety, quality, and affordability of health care.

WASHINGTON (PRWEB) February 4, 2007 -- The Leapfrog Group announced that USC Consulting Group (USCCG) has joined as a partner member. The two organizations will collaborate on two projects that will help further The Leapfrog Group's mission to trigger giant leaps forward in the safety, quality, and affordability of health care.

USCCG, a leader in helping hospitals achieve sustainable quality improvement and operational excellence, will lead work in highlighting the importance and impact of Leapfrog's hospital care standard on ICU Physician Staffing (IPS) in real world hospital settings. Leapfrog recommends that ICUs be staffed by intensivists - physicians who specialize in ICU care. Findings will contribute to the knowledge base regarding the benefits and realities of employing this critical standard in hospitals across the country. Research suggests that if all urban hospitals in the US implemented Leapfrog's IPS standard, over 54,000 lives would be saved.

USCCG will also streamline the work that Leapfrog does with its Health Plan User Groups by designing a database where Leapfrog members can access longitudinal results from the Health Plan User Group Scorecard. Health Plan User Groups bring together Leapfrog members who have significant business relationships with certain health plans and representatives from those plans to develop strategies that will provide employers with convenient products to help them incorporate Leapfrog's purchasing principles. Data collected in this area will showcase Leapfrog's collaborative work with health plans to align with national initiatives such as Secretary Leavitt's four cornerstones and the IHI's quality improvement campaigns.

"Every day we see tremendous untapped potential in hospitals. Our collaboration with The Leapfrog Group will put clean, objective information in the hands of the executives who can unlock this potential," said John B. D'Alesandro, healthcare practice leader for USC Consulting Group.

"We are excited about working with USCCG on these important initiatives that ultimately will help improve health care in hospitals," said Catherine Eikel, director of programs for The Leapfrog Group.

About USC Consulting Group
USC Consulting Group, LLC (www.usccg.com) is an independent management consulting firm headquartered in Tampa, FL, with offices in Chicago, Montreal and Toronto. PHLo™ (Proactive Healthcare Logistics) is the branded identity of the Healthcare Practice at USCCG. The mission is to implement projects making hospitals safer, faster, and measurably better. Using a unique and innovative approach, PHLo™ delivers an enduring platform for higher performance. More than a one-time event, the methodology comports with the realities of health care challenges, today and tomorrow. USCCG supports the hospital in adapting as the hospital environment changes, providing the basis for achieving and sustaining new levels of patient safety and satisfaction.

About the Leapfrog Group
On behalf of the millions of Americans for whom many of the nation's largest corporations and public agencies buy health benefits, The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) aims to use its members' collective leverage to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality, and affordability of health care for Americans. It is a voluntary program aimed at mobilizing employer purchasing power to alert America's health industry that big leaps in health care safety, quality, and customer value will be recognized and rewarded. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 by the Business Roundtable and has support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as well as its members and other funders.

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