by Laura DeStefano | Jan 24, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Health equity has been defined in many ways, but essentially the concept focuses on promoting social justice rather than economic or social status as the primary means for determining access to good health and well-being (Braveman, 2006). Another way, however, of...
by Laura DeStefano | Jan 24, 2013 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives
Introduction In virtually all Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports that have touched on patient safety during the last 15 years, information technology (IT) has played a critical role in the future view of safer patient care. This reflects an emerging view of patient...
by Laura DeStefano | Jan 18, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Equity is not a contemporary concept. The Oxford English Dictionary defines equity as “the quality of being fair and impartial: equity of treatment. A branch of law that developed alongside common law in order to remedy some of its defects in fairness and justice,...
by Laura DeStefano | Dec 14, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
We have a good concept of the flawed state of health care, the critical need for change, and the future we want. Patient-centered, personalized care, provided by collaborating care teams, is a part of that vision. Many changes will be necessary to achieve that future,...
by Laura DeStefano | Nov 30, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
While there has been an enormous amount of attention paid to the transformation of the United States Health Care delivery system under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), little has been said about the many opportunities in the ACA for population health systems improvement...
by Laura DeStefano | Nov 27, 2012 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives
The Urgent Need for Harmonization The 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice reported that “patients and the public benefit when physicians and researchers collaborate with pharmaceutical, medical...
by Laura DeStefano | Nov 16, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
More than a decade ago, the board of directors and executive leaders of Virginia Mason (VM) Health System in Seattle, WA, held a series of meetings to determine the future direction of the organization. It was a new century, we had a new CEO, and the Institute of...
by Laura DeStefano | Nov 2, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
The translation of new evidence into reliable practice typically takes years and sometimes decades. For interventions with a strong evidence base for improving outcomes, the absence of a reliable evidence implementation capacity means that the health system regularly...
by Laura DeStefano | Oct 19, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
Diabetes mellitus (DM) and associated complications are increasing in the United States, with prevalence up 40 percent from 2002 to 2010. [1] Randomized controlled studies have shown reductions in the increased cardiovascular disease risk associated with diabetes when...
by Laura DeStefano | Oct 18, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
In September 2000, the United Nations (UN) Millennium Declaration [1] established the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to accelerate efforts to reduce extreme poverty and related barriers to human development. At the Rio+20 World Summit on Sustainable Development,...
