For Immediate Release

Contact:
Scott Harris
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Milliman Care Guidelines
Tel +1 206 381.8160
Cell +1 480 203.7268
scott.harris@milliman.com

Kat Song
Director, Communications
The Leapfrog Group
Tel +1 202 292.6707
ksong@leapfroggroup.org

Milliman Care Guidelines Supports Leapfrog Hospital Rewards Program™

SEATTLE – July 12, 2006 – Milliman Care Guidelines, in collaboration with The Leapfrog Group, has announced integration of the Leapfrog Hospital Rewards Program’s™ (LHRP) quality measures within Milliman’s evidence-based clinical guidelines. Concurrently, a special program designed to provide financial assistance to hospitals participating in LHRP has been launched.

The LHRP is The Leapfrog Group’s new pay-for-performance program that provides a nationally standardized way to measure and reward hospitals’ quality of care and efficiency. The Program is designed to motivate hospital performance improvements and can be licensed and implemented by private healthcare purchasers — employers, healthcare coalitions and health plans.

In order to provide additional means of access to the LHRP measures within users’ workflow, Milliman’s Inpatient and Surgical Care product incorporates and flags the LHRP measures within its detailed, day-by-day care pathway tables. The Milliman Care Guidelines^® now highlight measures from three nationally-recognized quality programs, including the CMS Hospital Quality Initiative, and HEDIS^®. To offer additional support to the LHRP, hospitals choosing to participate in the Program can license Milliman’s Inpatient and Surgical Care at a discounted rate through the end of this year.

“Milliman’s guidelines help make it easy for hospitals to improve their quality and efficiency and, in turn, improve on important incentive and reward efforts like the Leapfrog Hospital Rewards Program,” stated Suzanne Delbanco, CEO, The Leapfrog Group.

Sherrie Dulworth, Vice President of Strategic Planning and Development, led the effort from the Milliman Care Guidelines side. “We are very pleased to participate in this program with The Leapfrog Group. We believe that the focus on the combination of quality and efficiency is an important and timely topic for hospitals and employers, and one which the Care Guidelines is well suited to assist,” said Dulworth.

About The Leapfrog Group

On behalf of the millions of Americans for whom many of the nation’s largest corporations and public agencies buy health benefits, The Leapfrog Group aims to use its members’ collective leverage to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality, and affordability of health care for Americans. It is a voluntary program aimed at mobilizing employer purchasing power to alert America’s health industry that big leaps in health care safety, quality and customer value will be recognized and rewarded. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 by the Business Roundtable and has support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as well as its members and other funders. For more information, visit www.leapfroggroup.org.

About Milliman Care Guidelines

Milliman Care Guidelines LLC, A Milliman Company, is located in Seattle, Washington and produces evidence-based clinical guidelines that are used to support the care of one in three Americans. The annually-updated, six-product Care Guidelines series covers the continuum of care, including: Ambulatory Care, Inpatient and Surgical Care, General Recovery Guidelines, Recovery Facility Care, Home Care, and Chronic Care Guidelines. For further information, visit www.careguidelines.com.

Milliman, whose corporate offices are in Seattle, serves the full spectrum of business, financial, government, and union organizations. Founded in 1947 as Milliman & Robertson, the company has 31 offices in the United States as well as offices in Amsterdam, Bermuda, New Delhi, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, México City, Milan, Munich, São Paulo, Seoul, Tokyo, and Warsaw. Milliman employs approximately 1,900 people, including a professional staff of more than 850 qualified consultants and actuaries. The firm has consulting practices in employee benefits, healthcare, life insurance/financial services, and property and casualty insurance. It is a founding member of Milliman Global, an international organization of consulting firms serving insurance, employee benefits, and healthcare clients worldwide. For further information, visit www.milliman.com.