Iom Calls For Change To Healthcare Delivery - Institute of Medicine - Brief Article

Healthcare Financial Management, April, 2001

Reorganization and reform of the nation's healthcare delivery system are urgently needed to fix what is "a disjointed and inefficient system," according to a report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. To spur an overhaul, Congress should create an "innovation fund" of $1 billion for use during the next three to five years to help subsidize promising projects and communicate the need for rapid and significant change throughout the health system. The report presents a five-part strategy to build a stronger healthcare system over the coming decade.

First, a strong commitment is needed on the part of every healthcare organization, physician and nurse, healthcare purchaser, and regulator to make improvements that ensure care is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable.

Second, new methods are needed to make the healthcare system more responsive to patients' needs and preferences and encourage their participation in decision making.

Third, the healthcare system should focus greater attention on the development of evidence-based approaches to care for the common conditions that afflict many people. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality should identify at least 15 common health conditions, most of them chronic. Then healthcare professionals, hospitals, health plans, and purchasers should develop strategies and action plans to improve care for these priority conditions over a five-year period.

Fourth, HHS should be given the responsibility and resources to establish and maintain a comprehensive program designed to make scientific evidence more useful and accessible to clinicians and patients. Also, a nationwide effort is needed to build a technology-based information infrastructure.

Fifth, a multidisciplinary summit of healthcare leaders should be held to develop strategies for restructuring clinical education and to assess the implications for provider credentialing programs, funding, and sponsorship of education programs for health professionals.