February 09, 2012

VANDERBILT CPPA AND RL SOLUTIONS FORM STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO IMPROVE PATIENT SAFETY

CAMBRIDGE, MA, and NASHVILLE, TN, May 15 /PRNewswire/ - rL Solutions, the leading provider of healthcare quality and safety software, and the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy (CPPA) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a leader in risk reduction services, announced today a strategic alliance to improve patient safety.

By combining rL Solutions' industry leading patient feedback system, Feedback MonitorPro(R) (FMPro(R)), with CPPA's innovative assessment tool - the Patient Advocacy Reporting System (PARS(R)) - and intervention services designed to identify physicians at high risk of medical malpractice claims, both organizations hope to provide the healthcare industry with a powerful new solution to improve quality, increase patient safety, and reduce risk.

"Our alliance with Vanderbilt CPPA is about as natural as they come," said Sanjay Malaviya, President & CEO, rL Solutions. "Our FMPro solution already provides organizations with tremendous value through the feedback information it collects, and by integrating it with CPPA's innovative methodology, we are unlocking a whole new world of value for our clients. It's exciting that we will be able to bring to market a combined solution that uses patient feedback to improve quality and safety, and reduce malpractice claims risk."

Under the alliance, rL Solutions will promote CPPA's services to the healthcare market and will work with CPPA to develop protocols and standards for information sharing. rL Solutions and CPPA also plan to collaborate on the creation of technologies to further enhance the PARS(R) process.

"Our PARS(R) team at the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy is excited to work with our thoughtful colleagues at rL Solutions," said Dr. Gerald Hickson, Director of CPPA at Vanderbilt. "Feedback MonitorPro(R) facilitates patients' observations of care, and we've learned how to take those observations to create a cost-effective program to identify and intervene with physicians and medical center services with high complaint rates who are at increased risk for claims."

One institution that has already taken advantage of the benefits of the two complementary systems is the University of Pennsylvania Health System. "UPHS has had a very productive experience working with both rL Solutions and CPPA independently," said Dr. Pat Sullivan, UPHS Associate Vice President for Clinical Development. "The FMPro(R) system has helped our Patient and Guest Services representatives capture and record our patient and family concerns. The transfer of this data to the Vanderbilt CPPA PARS(R) system has been seamless and represents an important component of our patient satisfaction and risk reduction efforts."

About The Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy at Vanderbilt

The Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy promotes patient satisfaction and quality healthcare through education, research and intervention services while restraining the escalating costs associated with patient dissatisfaction. CPPA has become a recognized leader in ongoing quality improvement, promotion of patient safety and reduction of malpractice risk through interventions based on patient and family assessments of healthcare services.

About PARS(R)

With more than 12,000 physicians at 29 client sites, CPPA's PARS(R) System is designed to analyze and code patient feedback to identify medical staff in healthcare organizations who may be at increased risk of generating malpractice claims. The PARS(R) system includes a guided intervention program where peer messengers provide high risk medical staff with comparative data to effect behavioral change. For more information, please visit www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/cppa.

About rL Solutions

rL Solutions provides proven risk management, patient feedback, claims and infection control software to help healthcare organizations improve patient safety and healthcare quality. rL Solutions brings together innovative technologies, stellar client service and a broad ecosystem of partners to give its 500 clients a complete safety and quality solution. With products that are easy to use and easy to implement, rL Solutions is a world leader in the healthcare market. For more information, visit www.rl-solutions.com.

SOURCE rL Solutions