The Leapfrog Group, which uses the collective leverage of its members to initiate breakthroughs in healthcare safety, quality and affordability, announced today it will appoint Leah Binder as its new CEO.
Binder, a hospital executive at the Franklin Community Health Network in Farmington, Maine, will begin on March 10.
At Franklin, Binder oversees operations for the system involving marketing, planning and public health outreach. She also serves as executive director of the Healthy Community Coalition (HCC) and Franklin Health Access.
FCHN's primary institution, Franklin Memorial Hospital, participates in the Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey and, as a result, has made a number of patient safety improvements, said Leapfrog spokesperson Kat Song.
Prior to Binder's work at FCHN, she served as senior policy advisor to New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, developing programs for the uninsured. She began her career in health policy with the National League for Nursing, where she served as public policy director.
According to Jill Berger, chairman of The Leapfrog Group and vice president of Health and Welfare for Marriott International, Inc., Binder has the right balance between passion and know-how to maintain Leapfrog's relevance to healthcare buyers.
"Doing business the Leapfrog way is not about thinking like an insider," Berger said. "Leapfrog affects breakthrough improvement in healthcare by stimulating it via accountability, incentives and other bold experiments in payment reform."
Theresa Helle, Leapfrog's regional roll-out leader for Seattle and manager of Boeing's Health Care Quality and Efficiency Initiatives, praised Binder's strong on-the-ground quality expertise and coalition-building skills.
"Ms. Binder can bring Leapfrog closer to achieving its mission to trigger giant leaps forward in the safety, quality and affordability of healthcare," Helle said.
Binder said she will focus on leveraging the purchasing power of large healthcare buyers to advance transparency, something that she sees as being long overdue.
"The Leapfrog Group's time has come and I intend to grow this organization and continue to position it as a leading part of the solution to major challenges in healthcare," she said.
Binder will replace Suzanne Delbanco, who announced her departure last August. Delbanco was responsible in part for launching Leapfrog seven years ago.