Milliman Care Guidelines Offers National Client Award for Healthcare Leadership

SEATTLE, July 22 /PRNewswire/ — Milliman Care Guidelines LLC, A Milliman Company, has established an award for clients who are using the company’s evidence-based clinical guidelines and software to improve healthcare delivery.

The company will name the first recipients of The Richard L. Doyle Award for Innovation and Leadership in Healthcare during its next Client Forum, April 2009, in Miami. Dr. Doyle developed the first Milliman Care Guidelines(R) products in 1990.

The Care Guidelines were the first clinical guidelines to offer a proactive, “look-ahead,” approach to most conditions, allowing clinicians to see the entire continuum of care for a patient, and to identify milestones along the road to recovery. Today, Care Guidelines products and software are licensed by more than 1,000 clients, including six of the seven largest US health plans, as they strive to deliver optimal care to their patients and members.

The Doyle Award is intended to encourage clients to develop innovative ways to apply the Care Guidelines to improve healthcare management. Applicants are asked to demonstrate the positive effects of the Care Guidelines on healthcare quality or patient safety; on patient, member, payor or external quality agency satisfaction; on staff efficiency, or on healthcare cost.

The grand prize winner will receive two paid registrations to the Client Forum, including travel and lodging, and their accomplishments will be recognized in an opening-day plenary session. The organization will receive a crystal trophy for display, and Milliman Care Guidelines will host a reception for client employees at the winner’s location. All applicants will have the option to describe their work and share best practices in a general poster session during the Client Forum.

Doyle Award applications will be judged by a panel of healthcare experts who are familiar with the Care Guidelines, but are independent of Milliman. Judges include:

— Leah Binder, Chief Executive Officer of The Leapfrog Group

— Dr. Richard L. Doyle, Originator of the Milliman Care Guidelines (retired)

   --  Liza Greenberg, President of Health Project Consulting   --  Donna Merrick, Director of Standards Development for URAC   --  Michael Millenson, President of Health Quality Advisors   

Licensed users of the Care Guidelines may contact Milliman representatives or visit The Doyle Award web page at http://www.careguidelines.com/company/doyle for application details.

About Richard L. Doyle, MD

Dr. Doyle is the visionary behind the Milliman Care Guidelines. He began creating clinical guidelines as San Diego’s Mercy Hospital Chief of Staff in the 1980s to help improve hospital efficiency and quality. In 1990, Dr. Doyle joined Milliman (then Milliman & Robertson) to publish the company’s first clinical guidelines, then called Healthcare Management Guidelines. Before retiring in 1997, he had produced the original editions of four of the Care Guidelines products currently in use.

About Milliman Care Guidelines

Milliman Care Guidelines LLC, A Milliman Company, is located in Seattle, and independently develops and produces evidence-based clinical guidelines and a variety of software options that are used to support the care of almost two-thirds of US health plan members. Covering the continuum of care, the seven-product Care Guidelines series is updated annually by an experienced team of clinicians, and includes Ambulatory Care, Inpatient and Surgical Care, General Recovery Guidelines, Recovery Facility Care, Home Care, Chronic Care Guidelines and Behavioral Health Guidelines. For more information, visit http://www.careguidelines.com/.

About Milliman

Milliman Care Guidelines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Milliman, which serves the full spectrum of business, financial, government, and union organizations. Founded in 1947 as Milliman & Robertson, the company has 48 offices in principal cities in the United States and worldwide. Milliman employs more than 2,000 people, including a professional staff of more than 900 qualified consultants and actuaries. The firm has consulting practices in healthcare, employee benefits, life insurance/financial services, and property & casualty insurance. For more information, visit http://www.milliman.com/.

Milliman Care Guidelines LLC

CONTACT: Sherrie Dulworth, Vice President of Quality and Product Design,Milliman Care Guidelines, +1-914-244-0067, [email protected]

Web site: http://www.careguidelines.com/http://www.careguidelines.com/company/doylehttp://www.milliman.com/