The Leapfrog Group Wins Health Value Award for Groundbreaking "Lives and Dollars Lost" Calculator

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Jun 11, 2019, 06:00 ET

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers focused on health care safety and quality, last night accepted the 2019 Health Value Award for Value Transparency Services in recognition of its "Lives and Dollars Lost to Medical Errors" calculator. Brian Klepper, Health Value Institute executive analyst and editor, presented the award in front of Leapfrog's Board of Directors, staff and Partners Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C.

The award recognizes Leapfrog's "Lives and Dollars Lost to Medical Errors" calculator, created to illuminate the impact medical errors have on an employer's covered population. The interactive tool allows employers and other purchasers to estimate the number of avoidable deaths among covered lives, how much they spend annually due to medical errors within general acute care hospitals and how much of their total health care spend goes to these medical mistakes.

"With its 'Lives and Dollars Lost to Medical Errors' calculator, Leapfrog makes another pioneering contribution to the health benefits community, holding hospitals accountable for the human and financial costs of errors," said Klepper. "This is exactly the kind of transparency needed to make health care work for patients and purchasers."

"We are enormously grateful to the awards committee for this prestigious honor, coming from the nation's toughest judges of data integrity. Not only did they confirm the validity of Leapfrog's work, but also cited us among the top healthcare organizations in the country," said Leapfrog president and CEO, Leah Binder. "The employers and business leaders who founded and led Leapfrog always believed that patient safety is a critical element of a good benefits plan. But it was hard to quantify that impact from traditional sources of data. Today, thanks to this honor, purchasers can have confidence in using Leapfrog to drive value."

The 2019 Health Value Awards are hosted by the Validation Institute, a national health care nonprofit on a mission to improve the quality and cost of health care in the United States. The organization is made up of a premier network of health care leaders focused on delivering better health value and strong outcomes.

The World Health Care Congress sponsors the Health Value Awards. The goal of the awards is to shine a light on health care organizations that consistently deliver significant value and promote transparency. Learn more about the awards on the Validation Institute's website.

About The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information, they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

SOURCE The Leapfrog Group