Did you know medical errors in hospitals are the third leading cause of death in the U.S.? Employers and other purchasers pay the price for these errors in both lives and dollars. In fact, employers pay an average of $8,000 per hospital admission for errors, injuries, accidents and infections. But that number can be significantly reduced - and you can save lives in the process.
To serve employers and other entities that are purchasing health care on behalf of their employees, we have developed a free Purchaser Toolkit. Educating and informing enrollees about the safety, quality, and affordability of health care and the importance of shopping for care is one of the most important things employers can do to drive improvement. Employers also have the power to encourage transparency and accountability in the hospitals in their own members.
Before you start exploring the resources below, there are two things you should do:
- Use our Lives and Dollars Lost to Medical Errors Calculator to see how much your company spends (in both lives and dollars) on hospital errors.
- Check the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades of your local hospitals for the benefit of your employees.
Now, spend some time learning how to apply your leverage with health plans and hospitals and communicate with your employees.
Apply Your Leverage
Leapfrog Regional Leaders work with other stakeholders to advance our mission of increasing transparency and quality in hospitals across the nation. Find out how you can share your strength to make a difference in your community.
Lives and Dollars Lost to Medical Errors Calculator
When mistakes happen in the hospital, employers pay the price in lives and dollars. Using Leapfrog’s groundbreaking Lives and Dollars Lost risk calculator, employers and purchasers can:
- Estimate the number of avoidable deaths among their covered lives
- Identify the hidden surcharge paid for each inpatient admission
- Calculate how much of their total health care spend goes to medical mistakes
Ask your plans to demonstrate their commitment to transparency, accountability and improvement with these tips. Also ask your health plan if they use Leapfrog data.
Despite the harm to your employees and expense to your bottom line, patient safety is rarely observable in claims data. So purchasers rely on hospitals to voluntarily report on safety to the Leapfrog Hospital Survey. Write to key hospital CEOs, using this template letter, to encourage them to complete a Leapfrog Hospital Survey. You should also request participation from ASCs in your community in the Leapfrog ASC Survey. Note: Leapfrog's Surveys are open April 1 - November 30 annually.
Communicate with Your Employees
These videos, which can easily be embedded into your website or platform, highlight steps patients can take to stay safe in the hospital and also offer an overview of patient safety and how to use the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.
Use these key talking points about the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade in memos, on elevators, in the cafeteria, or use them as a supplement to any of the other Toolkit materials.
This series of six short articles, focused on the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, was designed for an employee newsletter. Pick and choose the ones that work best for you, or use all six.
Internal Social Media Platforms
If your company uses social media or enterprise networks to connect with employees, consider integrating these short posts to spread the word about patient safety and the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.
Template Email from Your Company’s CEO
Personalize this template email to tell your employees all about the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade and how easy it is to use.
This consumer-friendly document helps employees understand their role as a patient on their health care team.
How Safe Is Your Hospital Poster
Print out this poster for the company bulletin board, and start a conversation about hospital safety today.
Website Banner (Click image below to download)
Use this graphic as a banner on your internal website to link to our Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade and our Leapfrog Hospital Survey Results.
Consider integrating these materials into your overall Health & Wellness program, so that when an employee needs more information on a hospital, they know where to turn.
If you have questions or ideas for additional resources, please contact us.
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Leapfrog's Purchaser Toolkit is an initiative of the Judie Burrows Education Institute. To learn more about Leapfrog's educational programming or to contribute, please visit www.leapfroggroup.org/JBEI. |