Sebastian Ferrero Foundation and Shands HealthCare Have Selected Sg2 to Conduct a Needs Assessment for a Gainesville-Based Children's Hospital

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sebastian Ferrero Foundation and Shands HealthCare announce today that they have jointly selected Sg2, a healthcare information company, to conduct a needs assessment for a Gainesville-based children's hospital. The assessment began in January with findings projected to be available early this summer.

"We are confident that the experts at Sg2 will handle this very important assessment, delivering the information necessary to determine the characteristics and scale that a dedicated children's hospital in Gainesville will require to provide world-class pediatric care," said Horst Ferrero, Founder, Sebastian Ferrero Foundation. "Sg2 is uniquely positioned and experienced to conduct this assessment leveraging their forecasting analytics, which are expert-based, clinically driven and future-focused."

Having worked with many of the nation's top pediatric hospitals and top academic medical centers, Sg2 will draw from its broad base of experience in research, data analytics and benchmarking in support of the needs analysis initiative. Sg2's pediatrics intelligence and analytics are led by a practicing pediatrician and other top industry experts with clinical, strategic and operational backgrounds. Sg2 also delivers complementary pediatric-specific resources best suited to outline future trends and implications on the delivery of world-class pediatric care. Furthermore, they are able to anticipate future pediatric patient needs using a unique disease-based forecasting model, the Impact of Change® forecast.

"We participated equally in the selection of Sg2 and are looking forward to the results. Together we are working toward our shared goal of achieving the highest possible patient safety and quality in an environment dedicated to optimal care for children," said Dr. David Guzick, UF's senior vice president for health affairs and president of the UF&Shands Health System.

"The Foundation's vision is to have all the critical components of a pediatric health-care system under one roof with everything geared toward children and their families. We want nothing less than the highest-quality medical care for children and we believe that occurs in an environment designed and operated specifically for children," explained Ferrero.

A dedicated children's hospital amid the academic medical center at Shands would be consistent with many of the top children's hospitals in the nation, and would be the first of its kind in Florida.

About Sebastian Ferrero Foundation:

Horst and Luisa Ferrero created the Foundation in memory of their happy and healthy 3-year-old son, Sebastian, who died in October 2007 as a result of a series of preventable medical errors in Gainesville, Fla. The mission of the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation is: to advocate and fundraise for a state-of-the-art, full-service children's hospital in Gainesville, Florida while promoting excellence in patient safety and insuring that all families are treated with compassion, courtesy and dignity. For more information, please visit http://www.sebastianferrero.org

About Sg2:

Sg2 provides expert-led, future-focused systems for growth and clinical performance. Our advanced analytics, business intelligence, education and publications deliver measurable value across the full continuum of health-care services. Sg2 works with more than 1,000 hospitals and healthcare organizations in the US and around the globe. For more information, please visit http://www.sg2.com.

SOURCE Sebastian Ferrero Foundation; Shands HealthCare