The Institute of Medicine on Our Fragmented Health Care System Where No One is Responsible

For decades, the American Institute of Medicine (IOM) has acknowledged the decline and deterioration of our Health Care System. Why is no one being held responsible?

You will read many facts and statistics where it is also common knowledge our faulty medical system has failed us, and has killed people in the process. Yes, almost a decade ago, the IOM published an enormous amount of reasons it needed change and now.

The decentralized and fragmented nature of the health care delivery system (some would say "non-system") also contributes to unsafe conditions for patients, and serves as an impediment to efforts to improve safety. Even within hospitals and large medical groups, there are rigidly-defined areas of specialization and influence.

Read this below, to see their exact words on this problem.

“when patients see multiple providers in different settings, none of whom have access to complete information, it is easier for something to go wrong than when care is better coordinated. At the same time, the provision of care to patients by a collection of loosely affiliated organizations and providers makes it difficult to implement improved clinical information systems capable of providing timely access to complete patient information. Unsafe care is one of the prices we pay for not having organized systems of care with clear lines of accountability.”

In 1996, the IOM launched a concerted, ongoing effort focused on assessing and improving the nation's quality of care, which is now in its third phase.

The first phase of this Quality Initiative documented the serious and pervasive nature of the nation's overall quality problem, concluding that "the burden of harm conveyed by the collective impact of all of our health care quality problems is staggering" (Chassen et al., 1998).

Titled “The Chasm in Quality: Select Indicators from Recent Reports”, the Institute of Medicine is on record for stating the following facts.

Between 44,000-98,000 Americans die from medical errors annually (Institute of Medicine, 2000; Thomas et al., 2000; Thomas et al., 1999)

Only 55% of patients in a recent random sample of adults received recommended care, with little difference found between care recommended for prevention, to address acute episodes or to treat chronic conditions (McGlynn et al., 2003)

Medication-related errors for hospitalized patients cost roughly $2 billion annually (Institute of Medicine, 2000; Bates et al., 1997)

41 million uninsured Americans exhibit consistently worse clinical outcomes than the insured, and are at increased risk for dying prematurely (Institute of Medicine, 2002; Institute of Medicine, 2003a)

The lag between the discovery of more effective forms of treatment and their incorporation into routine patient care averages 17 years (Balas, 2001; Institute of Medicine, 2003b)

18,000 Americans die each year from heart attacks because they did not receive preventive medications, although they were eligible for them (Chassin, 1997; Institute of Medicine, 2003a)

Medical errors kill more people per year than breast cancer, AIDS, or motor vehicle accidents (Institute of Medicine, 2000; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Center for Health Statistics: Preliminary Data for 1998, 1999)

More than 50% of patients with diabetes, hypertension, tobacco addiction, hyperlipidemia, congestive heart failure, asthma, depression and chronic atrial fibrillation are currently managed inadequately (Institute of Medicine, 2003c; Clark et al., 2000; Joint National Committee on Prevention, 1997; Legorreta et al., 2000; McBride et al., 1998; Ni et al., 1998; Perez-Stable and Fuentes-Afflick, 1998; Samsa et al., 2000; Young et al.)

Read about your safety and the missing vital information that could save your life in an emergency.

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