And, another recognition, this one from Leapfrog. Suzanne Delbanco, who has been heading this group for many years, is stepping down. Congratulations to her for her thoughtful approach to the issues and leadership of this important organization. I remember when they first came to Boston to explain their program: It was considered so cutting edge and controversial!
A lot has changed during her seven year tenure in health care, in part because of Leapfrog. The question now is whether Leapfrog has lost importance by actions and programs and disclosure efforts that have hopped over its own approach. That needs to be resolved by its Board as it conducts a search for a replacement to Suzanne.
I recently read a statement on the Health Care Blog to the effect that Leapfrog is 'passe'. I think that may be true for 2 reasons: first, they demonstrated early on that they "didn't get it" by demanding computerized physician order entry (CPOE) in an unrealistic time frame - it simply wasn't that easy. Second, I don't know what kind of teeth their efforts contained - did they really steer their member corporations' employees away from noncompliant hospitals? Or did they make it so hard to comply that it became a useless endeavor?
ReplyDeleteA followup comment to mine above (I guess I'm the only one that cares); here's a quote from yesterday's edition of HIStalk:
ReplyDelete"For the ten people who still care, Leapfrog announces its CPOE-centric top hospitals. Even Leapfrog says only 10% have implemented CPOE, which is a testament to its lack of clout. If the CPOE pioneers weren’t coming back with arrows in their backs, Leapfrog wouldn’t have to arm-twist."