Attributes of a Health Literate Organization

by Laura DeStefano | Jan 27, 2012 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives

What Is a Health Literate Organization? This paper describes ten attributes of a health literate organization, that is, an organization that makes it easier for people to navigate, understand, and use information and services to take care of their health. (See Table...

Deadly Sins and Living Virtues of Public Health

by Laura DeStefano | Jan 27, 2012 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives

At a recent meeting for Institute of Medicine (IOM) staff, I delivered a version of my 2011 Frank A. Calderone Prize Lecture, which included reference to the seven deadly sins. As originally enunciated by Pope Gregory I in 590 A.D., the deadly sins are lust, sloth,...

Free Employee Flu Shots Pay Prevention Dividends

by Laura DeStefano | Jan 27, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives

As is the case every year, millions of Americans will contract influenza this flu season, and thousands will die. During the 2009–10 season alone, when H1N1 set off the world’s first flu pandemic in 40 years, more than an estimated 12,000 Americans lost their lives to...

Walking Our Way to Better Health

by Laura DeStefano | Jan 27, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives

  We are spending 2.8 trillion dollars each year in the United States on health care—far more than any other country in the world. Interestingly, more than 75 percent of that sum is going toward chronic diseases. Chronic conditions can actually be prevented....

Benefit Design Should Reflect Value

by Laura DeStefano | Jan 27, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives

In 1965, when Medicare was enacted, spending for prescription drugs was less than $4 billion—so low that no one thought to include a drug benefit as part of Medicare. By 2003, the cost and importance of drug therapy was so high that Medicare Part D was enacted. Drug...

The Common Rule and Continuous Improvement in Health Care: A Learning Health System Perspective

by Laura DeStefano | Oct 1, 2011 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives

Abstract To generate needed improvements in health care, its delivery, and its outcomes, organized and sustained efforts at continuous improvement are needed. The Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Value & Science-Driven Health Care has developed the vision of...

Patient-Clinician Communication: Basic Principles and Expectations

by Laura DeStefano | Jun 15, 2011 | Discussion Paper, Perspectives

Activity Marketing experts, decision scientists, patient advocates, and clinicians have developed a set of guiding principles and basic expectations underpinning patient-clinician communication. The work was stewarded under the auspices of the Best Practices and...