The Leapfrog Group is an initiative driven by organizations that buy health care who are working to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of healthcare for Americans.
The Leapfrog Group was founded by a small group of large employers, initially supported by the Business Roundtable (BRT) and launched in November 2000. Leapfrog is supported by the BRT, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Leapfrog members and others. In 2005, HAC was named a Leapfrog Rollout Region. In 2008, the Health Quality Forum Ohio is working with other Ohio organizations to encourage reporting by hospitals across Ohio.
A 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine gave the Leapfrog founders an initial focus – reducing preventable medical mistakes. The report found that up to 98,000 Americans die every year from preventable medical errors made in hospitals alone. The report recommended that employers provide more market reinforcement for the quality and safety of health care.
The Leapfrog Group’s initial three recommended quality and safety practices were implemented in every non-rural hospital in the U.S., Birkmeyer estimate that up to 65,341 lives could be saved and as many as 907,600 serious medication errors could be prevented each year (Birkmeyer, 2004). Conrad estimates that $41.5 billion could be saved annually (2005).
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