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(Circulation. 2001;103:e9022.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.

Institute of Medicine Report Seeks Overhaul of Health System

Ruth SoRelle, MPH, Circulation Newswriter

The United States needs a new healthcare system that centers on the needs and preferences of patients and assures that they receive the care they need in a timely manner, says a new report from the Washington, DC–based Institute of Medicine. The report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century, was released March 1, 2001.

The report calls for Congress to establish a $1 billion innovation fund to be used to subsidize promising projects over the next 3 to 5 years. "Today, we cannot guarantee that patients will receive state-of-the-art care," said Donald Berwick, MD, one of the study’s authors. "We need to develop a system where we can guarantee patients will receive the best care that exists." The report is a follow-up to the Institute’s widely disseminated study To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. In that study, the authors predicted that without substantial changes in the way that health care is delivered, problems will only increase.

Care can be made more personal and timely if healthcare professionals take advantage of technology such as communicating with patients by e-mail, according to the most recent report. However, such changes will require alterations in legal requirements and payment strategies.

The new report also recommends the following.

Ruth SoRelle, MPHHealthcare organizations, professional groups, and private and public healthcare purchasers should adopt as a purpose the continual reduction in America’s burden of illness, injury, and disability.

Monitoring and tracking processes should be established to . . . [Full Text of this Article]