by Laura DeStefano | Oct 25, 2013 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives
A common lament of the post–Affordable Care Act era is that clinical medicine and population health need to be more strongly integrated. Although there is optimism that new incentives will help achieve greater integration (Shortell, 2013), the separation is...
by Laura DeStefano | Sep 18, 2013 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives
Increasingly, efforts to improve Americans’ health recognize the need to reach beyond the traditional health care and public health sectors to address the “non-medical determinants of health” (McGinnis et al., 2002). We see this in calls for policy change in the...
by Laura DeStefano | Sep 18, 2013 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives
What is Health in All Policies? Health in All Policies is an approach to improving the health of all people by incorporating health considerations into collaborative decision-making across sectors and policy areas (Rudolph et al., 2013). The goal of Health in...
by Laura DeStefano | Aug 13, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
In 2013, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported that the 30-day, all-cause readmission rate had decreased to 17.8 percent, after averaging 19 percent for the past 5 years. This improvement translates to 70,000 fewer readmissions in 2012, but,...
by Laura DeStefano | Aug 8, 2013 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives
The emergence of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs), and related payment and delivery system innovations provides an unparalleled opportunity to advance the health of the U.S. population. The key to understanding this...
by Laura DeStefano | Jul 26, 2013 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives
Introduction Health literacy refers to a broad set of skills that help patients understand health information, implement basic self-care activities, and navigate health care systems. These skills include reading, writing, and math, as well as the ability to comprehend...
by Laura DeStefano | Jul 26, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) report Best Care at Lower Cost [1] indicates that team-based care is an important tool for making the transition to a learning health care system, and it is a major objective of the work the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation has been...
by Laura DeStefano | Jul 16, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Rising health care costs, increasing prevalence of chronic disease, persisting health care disparities and access issues, and the aging population underlie the urgent need for change in the U.S. health care system to simultaneously improve health and reduce costs...
by Laura DeStefano | Jul 12, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
The national health care system is beginning to embrace the idea of a continuously learning health care system, as proposed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in the report Best Care at Lower Cost [1]. The necessity of such a system arose from the IOM’s Quality Chasm...
by Laura DeStefano | Jun 28, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
As discussed by Christine Cassel of the American Board of Internal Medicine in an Institute of Medicine (IOM) commentary on June 14, 2013, the Choosing Wisely campaign unites more than 25 medical specialty societies, each agreeing to identify “Five Things Physicians...
