New IOM report says doctors are trying but system needs work

An Institute of Medicine call for wholesale change in the health care delivery system meets with mixed reviews.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. March 19, 2001.

Leaders of several key physician groups voiced support for a new Institute of Medicine report that recommends overhauling the health care delivery system. They called on the federal government to take action.

The nonprofit institute's report, "Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century," was met with a unified front from physician groups -- a contrast to their response to the 1999 IOM report on medical errors, which caught the physician community off guard and scrambling to respond to allegations that medical errors killed up to 98,000 people per year.

In contrast, "Crossing the Quality Chasm" says that physicians, nurses and other health care professionals are doing their best to provide good care but are swimming upstream in an inefficient system that does not reward innovation and communication.

The report, released this month, says key things need to happen if health care quality is to substantially improve. It must become more patient centered, efforts should be focused on treating chronic conditions and technology must play a much more significant role in health care communication and delivery.

Among the physician groups that support the report's call to action are the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine and the American College of Surgeons. Even as the groups were beginning to contemplate what action they should take to guide the report's implementation, they said the federal government must play a key role to ensure quality of care. [...]