Commentary
by Jenna Ogilvie | Jul 15, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Introduction In this commentary, Dr. Regina Benjamin highlights accomplishments of the National Prevention Council, an unprecedented gathering of multiple federal departments and agencies whose policies and practices bear on health. Authorized under the Affordable...
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...
by Laura DeStefano | Jun 14, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
According to the Institute of Medicine report Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America, as much as $750 billion—or 30 percent [1]—of health care expenditures may be wasted, including a substantial share from services that are...
by Laura DeStefano | Jun 11, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Business and government often respond rapidly, without engaging health professionals, in their efforts to solve crises or embrace new technologies. Too often, decisions made prove to be shortsighted. One needs only to look to recent history for unintended...
by Jenna Ogilvie | May 31, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
For the global development community, 2015 is a pivotal year. Under United Nations leadership, multilateral organizations, national governments, international and national nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and other civil society sectors are...
by Jenna Ogilvie | May 29, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
A central tenet of the learning health system philosophy is that evidence development should be part of care delivery. Furthermore, it should be possible to address difficult problems in the learning health system; health care-associated infections are such problems....
by Jenna Ogilvie | May 17, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
A generation ago, the doctor always knew best. Medical decision-making was cloaked in secrecy. Medical charts and Xrays were handled clandestinely. And hospitals’ outcomes, volumes, and mortality rates were not available for general consumption—if the data were...
by Jenna Ogilvie | May 9, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
We have long known that factors outside of medical care—race, education, housing, income, and other social determinants—are the most important drivers of how healthy or sick we are. It is not new information that people of color get unequal health care and have poorer...
by Laura DeStefano | May 3, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Health care delivery is changing in virtually every domain—affecting primary, tertiary, and quaternary care; crossing disciplines and engaging all health professions; and involving both processes and outcomes of care. All of these changes are marked by a major...
