Commentary
by Laura DeStefano | Sep 7, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
Pursuit of value-based health care is now the aim of health policy in the United States. But caution is needed to avoid affirming Winston Churchill’s perspective that “you can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.” The...
by Laura DeStefano | Aug 24, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
When the family of Michelle Malizzo Ballog found out that their daughter’s 2008 death had been caused by a preventable medical error, one question trumped all others: How could this have happened? To the family’s surprise and relief, officials at the University of...
by Laura DeStefano | Aug 10, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
As politicians face the disturbing consequences of high health care costs on federal, state, and local budgets, the need to act will likely drive unwise decisions. Typical responses to severe cost pressures, as we have seen in state legislatures and the Congress, are...
by Laura DeStefano | Jul 27, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
American health care faces challenges in access, cost, and quality and in marked geographic and socioeconomic variability. While these challenges will require actions by federal and state governments, they also call for action by individual health systems. Actions by...
by Laura DeStefano | Jul 13, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
The policy drivers behind meaningful use are improving quality, enhancing safety, and increasing efficiency in our health care system. In my view, health care in the United States lacks “systemness”—instead relying on disconnected hospitals, clinician offices, labs,...
by Laura DeStefano | Jun 29, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
During the first decade of this century, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) played a major role in laying out a vision and strategic direction for change at all levels of the health system, including patients engaged as partners in their health and health care;...
by Laura DeStefano | Jun 15, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
For decades, using electronic health records (EHRs) and exchanging health information has been viewed as essential for modernizing health care and improving patient care. The 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act provided...
by Laura DeStefano | Jun 1, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
In the next 10 years, data and the ability to analyze them will do for doctors’ minds what X-ray and medical imaging have done for their vision. How? By turning data into actionable information. Take, for instance, IBM’s intelligent supercomputer, Watson. Watson can...
by Laura DeStefano | May 18, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) release of the reports To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm in 1999 and 2001, respectively, were markers of a tipping point in U.S. health care. Prior to that time, “quality” in health care had largely been defined by...
by Laura DeStefano | May 4, 2012 | Commentary, Perspectives
Once again, the challenge of how to constrain rising health care expenditures has caught the public interest, stimulated by concerns over rising federal debt and limited ability to generate tax revenues. I recently chronicled my unsuccessful efforts at stimulating...
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