September 28, 2009, Chicago, IL -Ascension Health, HCA, North Shore-LIJ Health System, and Lightspeed Research -The Foresight Group are pleased to announce the formation of The Healthcare Consortium. The mission of the Consortium is to serve as a resource for human capital thought leadership in the healthcare workplace to better serve patients and communities.

The Healthcare Consortium brings together colleagues from hospitals of different sizes and areas of focus to share their interests and experiences and to learn what organizations are doing to improve the healthcare workplace. The Consortium has four focus areas: benchmarking, best practices, education and networking

• Benchmarking provides members with opportunities to select meaningful benchmark items for employee survey inclusion, benchmark employee survey items that include demographic information within the healthcare workplace, and benchmark items within the Consortium database for further analysis and comparison.
• Best Practices gives members access to a resource of best practices in the healthcare workplace environment. Members may review these practices when developing action plans based on their employee survey results.
• Education is provided to the Consortium’s members through complimentary HRCI approved webinars conducted quarterly. Webinars provide members with a forum to discuss trends and issues in the healthcare workplace environment.
• Networking between members takes place throughout the year with involvement in the benchmarking process, best practices and educational activities. This year’s annual Healthcare Consortium meeting will be held during the ASHHRA conference on November 2, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency, Chicago.

“The Healthcare Consortium will provide members with resources and tools to create a more effective healthcare workplace,” said Marcia Silverberg, Vice President, Human Resources Strategic Initiatives with Ascension Health. “The Healthcare Consortium will be a valuable resource to us as we learn from -- and share with -- other healthcare providers.”

For more information and membership applications, please visit The Healthcare Consortium website or call (847) 438-7655.

ABOUT THE FOUNDING MEMBERS

Ascension Health is transforming healthcare by providing the highest quality care to all, with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable. Ascension Health, which provided $926 million in care of persons who are poor and community benefit last year, is the nation’s largest Catholic and nonprofit health system. Our Mission-focused Health Ministries consist of 107,000 associates serving in more than 500 locations in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

HCA is the nation's leading provider of healthcare services, composed of locally managed facilities that include 163 hospitals and 112 outpatient centers in 20 states and England.

The North Shore-LIJ Health System is the nation’s third-largest, nonprofit, secular health system, with 14 hospitals in the New York metropolitan area, 18 long-term-care facilities, five home care agencies, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and a hospice care network. In addition, North Shore-LIJ is partnering with Hofstra University to develop a new medical school.

Lightspeed Research-The Foresight Group is a global leader in employee research and survey consulting providing survey services since 1994. Foresight's healthcare benchmark data in the past 12 months includes 380,000 respondents and over 1,200 healthcare locations including more than 550 hospitals and more than 600 healthcare facilities that include ambulatory, surgery, imaging, SNF/LTC, rehab, hospice, home health and psychological care.