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IOM IDENTIFIES 20 PRIORITY AREAS FOR IMPROVING HEALTH CARE
Americans are not getting their money's worth from the billions of dollars spent on health research each year because the health care system fails to properly put discoveries into practice, according to a report issued by the Institute of Medicine on Jan. 7.
The IOM study identified 20 priority areas, including early management of diseases like asthma and diabetes, treatments to help adults quit smoking and improvements in health literacy as key targets for better health care.
"We have islands of quality care, but we want to expand those into continents," said C. Tracy Orleans, senior scientist at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and study co-author. "By highlighting these 20 critical areas, we hope that improvements in these areas will have a filter effect to other aspects of health care systems."
Rather than endorse specific cures for specific diseases, the list of priorities emphasizes prevention and ways to manage chronic health conditions from childhood until the end of life.
The list also includes conditions where there is a good likelihood, based on current studies, that the condition could be improved by implementing better health care practices, such as quickly administering medications after a heart attack or reminding caregivers to discuss smoking habits with their patients.
"We spend more than $1 trillion on health care annually, we have extraordinary knowledge and capacity to deliver the best care in the world, but we repeatedly fail to translate that knowledge and capacity into clinical practice," the study concludes.
For more information on the report or to order an advance copy, visit http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309085438?OpenDocument.
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