Collaborations will modify Leapfrog standards
The Washington, DC-based Leapfrog Group’s standards were never intended to be carved in stone, insists Suzanne Delbanco, PhD, executive director. In fact, with the establishment of formal partnerships with several recognized health care quality organizations, some modifications already are in progress. "We have four organizations to help us think through refinements to existing leaps, as well as consider new ones," she says. These include the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) in Oakbrook Terrace, IL; the National Quality Forum in Washington, DC; the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, MD; and the National Committee on Quality Assurance in Washington, DC.
The first major collaboration between The Leapfrog Group and JCAHO, for example, will involve the identification of a specific set of intensive care unit (ICU)-related outcome and process measures. The measures eventually may be used to supplement, or even replace, the current Leapfrog measures that recommend hospitals have board-certified or board-eligible intensivists, according to JCAHO.
"From day one, our ICU standards and evidence-based hospital referral standards have always expressed a preference for risk-adjusted outcomes information that are publicly reported where available," Delbanco says. "For example, the state of California has a system in which hospitals can participate to report all patient care in their ICUs. This information can be reported in such a way that it can be compared to procedures at other hospitals," she adds.
"That kind of information is more important to patients than whether or not there are intensivists on staff," Delbanco explains. "But because such systems are so rare, we have to use structural measures as transitional standards while drawing up support for other initiatives."
The bottom line, Delbanco says, is that "our partners will aid us with refinement and development around our leaps. Part of the reason for doing this is that, with the expertise we all have, there could be duplicative efforts. Working together will make this much less likely."
For more information contact: Suzanne Delbanco, PhD, Executive Director, The Leapfrog Group, c/o the Academy, 1801 K St., N.W., Suite 701-L, Washington, DC 20006. Telephone: (202) 292-6711. E-mail: [email protected].
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