Report: U.S. health system in need of revamping

By Christy Feig
CNN Medical Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The nation's health care industry is in major need of an overhaul, according to a review released Thursday by the National Academy of Sciences, which called on Congress to create a fund of $1 billion to speed the revision process.

The report compares the fund to the type of resources used to support the mapping of the human genome, and envisions it being used in "the next three to five years to help subsidize promising projects and communicate the need for rapid and significant change throughout the health system."

This review is the second part to the academy's report, which found that about 98,000 Americans die each year because of medical errors. The report blames many of those errors on a health system that is "a tangled, highly fragmented web that often wastes resources by providing unnecessary services and duplicating efforts, leaving unaccountable gaps in care."

MORE Get the full report online     ALSO Medical errors kill tens of thousands annually, panel says     MESSAGE BOARD Health care reform

Adding high tech devices to the health system will improve effectiveness, according to the report. For example, the use of automated medication order entry systems can reduce errors in prescribing and dosing drugs, and computerized reminders can help both patients and health care providers identify needed services.

The committee that put together the report offers 10 new suggestions to make the health system more responsive to patients:

•  Continuous health care access - Patients should receive care whenever they need it, including face-to-face visits and Internet and telephone consultations.

•  Customized care - The system should have the capability to respond to individual patient choices and preferences.

•  Patient control - Patients should be given the necessary information and opportunity to exercise the degree of control they choose over health care decisions that affect them.

•  Free flow of information - Patients should have unfettered access to their own medical information and to clinical knowledge.

•  Evidence-based decision-making - Patients should receive care based on the best available scientific knowledge, which doesn't vary from place to place.

•  Patient safety - Patients should be safe from injuries caused by medical errors.

•  Availability of information - The system should make information available to help patients make informed decisions when they select a health plan, hospital or clinical practice.

•  Anticipation of needs - The health system should anticipate patient needs, rather than simply react to events.

•  Decrease in waste - The system should not waste resources or patient time.

•  Clinician cooperation - Clinicians and institutions should collaborate and communicate to ensure exchange of information and coordination of care.

The oversight for the reform should be given to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the report said. The agency should monitor and track quality improvements in areas such as safety, effectiveness, responsiveness to patients, timeliness, efficiency, and equity, and report annually to Congress and the president on what progress has been made in those areas.

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Institute of Medicine
Kaiser Family Foundation
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Hospital Association
National Patient Safety Foundation

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