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Book The Patient Priority  Solve Health Care s Value Crisis by Measuring and Delivering Outcomes That Matter to Patients

Download or read book The Patient Priority Solve Health Care s Value Crisis by Measuring and Delivering Outcomes That Matter to Patients written by Stefan Larsson and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2022-11-08 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the thought leaders at Boston Consulting Group come lessons on how leading health systems around the world are delivering patient-centered, value-based care by focusing on the health outcomes that matter to patients. To address the growing crises confronting the global health sector, health systems need to deliver better health outcomes to patients for the money spent, an approach known as value-based health care. Contrary to traditional approaches to health-systems reform that emphasize cost containment, value-based health care shifts the focus to continuous improvement in the outcomes delivered to patients. Systematically measuring, tracking, and improving health outcomes over time can have a transformative effect, enabling health systems to: deliver better patient outcomes and overall population health more consistently identify and disseminate best-practice diagnoses and treatments more rapidly control total health-care costs more effectively because unnecessary procedures are eliminated, expensive complications occur less frequently, and repeat treatments are avoided rebuild the trust and motivation of health professionals by aligning system performance goals with professional purpose The only way for the health care sector to sustainably contain costs and fulfill its mission is by putting the patient and the delivery of outcomes that matter to patients at the center of the industry’s efforts and by aligning incentives around the continuous improvement of health outcomes in a cost-effective manner.Designed by thought leaders at Boston Consulting Group as a practical step-by-step guide for clinicians, payers, policymakers, and other industry stakeholders, The Patient Priority features powerful case studies of leading value-based innovators—both public and private, as well as from both high- and low-income countries—that are taking the concept of value-based health care from theory to practice. The book also presents a detailed road map for the comprehensive value-based transformation of national health systems. This book is an indispensable tool to launch a new era of patient-centered innovation, unlock value in health care, and bring about step-function improvements in productivity, performance, and population health.

Book The Patient Centered Value System

Download or read book The Patient Centered Value System written by Anthony M. DiGioia and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-09-11 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine: You are a hospital Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, medical or nursing director, patient safety specialist, quality improvement professional, or a doctor or nurse on the front lines of patient care. Every day you’re aware that patients and families should be more engaged in their care so they would fare better both in the hospital and after discharge; their care could be safer and more seamlessly coordinated; patients should be ready for discharge sooner and readmitted less often; your bottom line stronger; your staff more fulfilled. You enter into new payment models such as bundling with an uneasy awareness that your organization is at risk because you don’t know what the care you deliver actually costs. Like most healthcare leaders, you are also still searching for a way to deliver care that will help you to achieve the Triple Aim: care that leads to improved clinical outcomes, better patient and family care experiences, and reduced costs. Sound familiar? If so, then it’s time to read The Patient Centered Value System: Transforming Healthcare through Co-Design. This book explains how to introduce the Patient Centered Value System in your organization to go from the current state to the ideal. The Patient Centered Value System is a three-part approach to co-designing improvements in healthcare delivery—collaborating with patients, families, and frontline providers to design the ideal state of care after listening to their wants and needs. Central to the Patient Centered Value System is seeing every care experience through the eyes of patients and families. The Patient Centered Value System is a process and performance improvement technique that consists of 1) Shadowing, 2) the Patient and Family Centered Care Methodology, and 3) Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing. Shadowing is the essential tool in the Patient Centered Value System that helps you to see every care experience from the point of view of patients and families and enables you to calculate the true costs of healthcare over the full cycle of care. Fundamental to the Patient Centered Value System is the building of teams to take you from the currents state of care delivery to the ideal. Healthcare transformation depends not on individual providers working to fix broken systems, but on teams of providers working together while breaking down silos. The results of using the Patient Centered Value System are patients and families who are actively engaged in their care, which also improves their outcomes; providers who see the care experience from the patient’s and family’s point of view and co-design care delivery as a result; the tight integration of clinical and financial performance; and the realization of the Triple Aim.

Book Optimizing Health  Improving the Value of Healthcare Delivery

Download or read book Optimizing Health Improving the Value of Healthcare Delivery written by Franz Porzsolt and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-07-07 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together the best thinking from both sides of the Atlantic to explore the issues surrounding soaring health care costs. It employs disciplinary perspectives from economics, ethics, philosophy, psychology, clinical practice, and epidemiology to explore various ways that value for patients have and can be determined. A major section of the book discusses problems that can reduce the value to patients of medical care. The volume is must read for practitioners, policy makers, and researchers who want to find in one place the state-of-the-art thinking and future directions of valuing medical care from the patient’s perspective.

Book Patient Engagement

    Book Details:
  • Author : Guendalina Graffigna
  • Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
  • Release : 2016-01-01
  • ISBN : 3110452448
  • Pages : 154 pages

Download or read book Patient Engagement written by Guendalina Graffigna and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patient engagement should be envisaged as a key priority today to innovate healthcare services delivery and to make it more effective and sustainable. The experience of engagement is a key qualifier of the exchange between the demand (i.e. citizens/patients) and the supply process of healthcare services. To understand and detect the strategic levers that sustain a good quality of patients’ engagement may thus allow not only to improve clinical outcomes, but also to increase patients’ satisfaction and to reduce the organizational costs of the delivery of services. By assuming a relational marketing perspective, the book offers practical insights about the developmental process of patients’ engagement, by suggesting concrete tools for assessing the levels of patients’ engagement and strategies to sustain it. Crucial resources to implement these strategies are also the new technologies that should be (1) implemented according to precise guidelines and (2) designed according to a user-centered design process. Furthermore, the book describes possible fields of patients’ engagement application by describing the best practices and experiences matured in different fields

Book Understanding Value Based Healthcare

Download or read book Understanding Value Based Healthcare written by Vineet Arora and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2015-04-03 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provide outstanding healthcare while keeping within budget with this comprehensive, engagingly written guide Understanding Value-Based Healthcare is a succinct, interestingly written primer on the core issues involved in maximizing the efficacy and outcomes of medical care when cost is a factor in the decision-making process. Written by internationally recognized experts on cost- and value-based healthcare, this timely book delivers practical and clinically focused guidance on one of the most debated topics in medicine and medicine administration today. Understanding Value-Based Healthcare is divided into three sections: Section 1 Introduction to Value in Healthcare lays the groundwork for understanding this complex topic. Coverage includes the current state of healthcare costs and waste in the USA, the challenges of understanding healthcare pricing, ethics of cost-conscious care, and more. Section 2 Causes of Waste covers important issues such as variation in resource utilization, the role of technology diffusion, lost opportunities to deliver value, and barriers to providing high-value care. Section 3 Solutions and Tools discusses teaching cost awareness and evidence-based medicine, the role of patients, high-value medication prescribing, screening and prevention, incentives, and implementing value-based initiatives. The authors include valuable case studies within each chapter to demonstrate how the material relates to real-world situations faced by clinicians on a daily basis. .

Book The Patient and Health Care System  Perspectives on High Quality Care

Download or read book The Patient and Health Care System Perspectives on High Quality Care written by Pranavi V. Sreeramoju and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-07-19 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the interface between the patient and the healthcare system as the entryway to high-quality care and improved outcomes. Unlike other texts, this book puts the patient back in the center of care while integrating the various practices and challenges. Written by interdisciplinary experts, the book begins by evaluating the entire quality landscape before giving voice to all parties involved, including physicians, nurses, administrators, patients, and families. The text then focuses on how to develop a structure that meets needs of all of these groups, effectively addressing common threats to positive outcomes and patient satisfaction. The text tackles the most common challenges clinicians face in a hospital setting, including infection prevention, medication error and stewardship that may jeopardize recovery, complex care, and employee-patient engagement. The Patient and Healthcare System: Perspectives on High-Quality Care is an excellent resource for physicians across broad specialties, nurses, hospital administrators, social workers, patient caregivers and all healthcare professionals concerned with infection prevention, quality and safety of care delivery, and patient satisfaction.

Book The Putting Patients First Field Guide

Download or read book The Putting Patients First Field Guide written by Planetree Foundation and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-09-20 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book answers 'why not' and 'how to' for health care accreditation bodies, quality experts, and frontline professionals, moving the reader from timely information, to inspiration, and through patient-centered action with practical tools and potent case studies." Paul vanOstenberg, DDS, MS, vice president, Accreditation and Standards, Joint Commission International "This superb guide from Planetree illustrates that providing high-quality, high-value, patient-centered health care is not a theoretical ideal. The case studies make clear that these goals are attainable; they are being achieved by leading health care organizations worldwide, and there is a clear road map for getting there right here in this book." Susan Dentzer, senior policy adviser to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation "At IHI, we follow the principle, 'all teach, all learn' the idea that everyone, everywhere has something to teach, and something to learn. This remarkable and indispensable guide is as pure an example of this principle as I've come across." Maureen Bisognano, president and chief executive officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement "The International Society for Quality in Health Care's mission is to inspire, promote, and support continuous improvement in the quality and safety of health care worldwide. It is in this spirit that we welcome this new book on patient-centered care. As in their previous work, the authors demonstrate just how critical it is to develop an organizational culture that puts patients first." Peter Carter, chief executive officer, International Society for Quality in Health Care

Book Value Management in Healthcare

Download or read book Value Management in Healthcare written by Nathan William Tierney and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-10-06 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Nathan Tierney’s powerful storytelling is rarely seen in today’s health care business environment. We must redesign the health care delivery system---a team sport in service of patients, hold it accountable with measurement to improve outcomes, and quantify the resource costs over the full cycle of care. Value-based health care is a framework through which these goals are achieved, and Tierney provides a detailed playbook to get your organization there. Outlined in incredible detail and clarity, he presents core concepts and dives into the key metrics needed to build, maintain, and scale a successful value-based health care organization. Nathan shares a realistic vision of what any CEO should expect when developing their own Value Management Office. Nothing is more important to me than improving the lives of those I love. My personal mission is to create systemic change with an impact on the global stage. This playbook needs to be on the desk of every executive, clinician, and patient today." -Mahek Shah, MD, Senior Researcher and Senior Project Leader, Harvard Business School Our current healthcare system’s broken. The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) predicts health care costs could increase from 6% to 14% of GDP by 2060. The cause of this increase is due to (1) a global aging population, (2) growing affluence, (3) rise in chronic diseases, and (4) better-informed patients; all of which raises the demand for healthcare. In 2006, Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg authored the book ‘Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results.’ In it, they present their analysis of the root causes plaguing the health care industry and make the case for why providers, suppliers, consumers, and employers should move towards a patient-centric approach that optimizes value for patients. According to Porter, "value for patients should be the overarching principle for our broken system." Since 2006, Professor Porter, accompanied by his esteemed Harvard colleague, Profesor Robert Kaplan, have worked tirelessly to promote this new approach and pilot it with leading healthcare delivery organizations like Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson, and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. Given the current state of global healthcare, there is urgency to achieve widespread adoption of this new approach. The intent of this book is to equip all healthcare delivery organizations with a guide for putting the value-based concept into practice. This book defines the practice of value-based health care as Value Management. The book explores Profesor Porter’s Value Equation (Value = Outcomes/ Cost), which is central to Value Management, and provides a step-by-step process for how to calculate the components of this equation. On the outcomes side, the book presents the Value Realization Framework, which translates organizational mission and strategy into a comprehensive set of performance measures and contextualizes the measures for healthcare delivery. The Value Realization Framework is based on Professor Kaplan's ground-breaking Balanced Scorecard approach, but specific to healthcare organizations. On the costs side, the book details the Harvard endorsed time-driven activity based costing (TDABC) methodology, which has proven to be a modern catalyst for defining HDO costs. Finally, this book covers the need and a plan to establish a Value Management Office to lead the delivery transformation and govern operations. This book is designed in a format where any organization can read it and acquire the fundamentals and methodologies of Value Management. It is intended for healthcare delivery organizations in need of learning the specifics of achieving the implementation of value-based healthcare.

Book Bringing Value to Healthcare

Download or read book Bringing Value to Healthcare written by Rita E. Numerof and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-02-01 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Bringing Value to Healthcare: Practical Steps for Getting to a Market-Based Model, Rita Numerof and Michael Abrams lay out the roadmap to a healthcare system that is accountable for delivering optimal patient outcomes at a sustainable cost. This is the handbook for payer, provider, pharmaceutical, and medical device executives seeking to preserve today‘s profitability while positioning their organizations for success in the very different markets of tomorrow. The book‘s guidance is illuminated by case studies and each chapter concludes with a self-assessment tool and key questions.

Book Fundamentals of Clinical Data Science

Download or read book Fundamentals of Clinical Data Science written by Pieter Kubben and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-21 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book comprehensively covers the fundamentals of clinical data science, focusing on data collection, modelling and clinical applications. Topics covered in the first section on data collection include: data sources, data at scale (big data), data stewardship (FAIR data) and related privacy concerns. Aspects of predictive modelling using techniques such as classification, regression or clustering, and prediction model validation will be covered in the second section. The third section covers aspects of (mobile) clinical decision support systems, operational excellence and value-based healthcare. Fundamentals of Clinical Data Science is an essential resource for healthcare professionals and IT consultants intending to develop and refine their skills in personalized medicine, using solutions based on large datasets from electronic health records or telemonitoring programmes. The book’s promise is “no math, no code”and will explain the topics in a style that is optimized for a healthcare audience.

Book Patient Engagement

    Book Details:
  • Author : Marie-Pascale Pomey
  • Publisher : Springer Nature
  • Release : 2019-10-10
  • ISBN : 3030141012
  • Pages : 317 pages

Download or read book Patient Engagement written by Marie-Pascale Pomey and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-10-10 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patient-oriented approaches to healthcare management have been brought to the fore in recent years, yet this book underlines how even further change is needed in order to fully mobilise the experiential knowledge of patients, and ultimately improve our healthcare systems. With contributions from scholars and patients across the globe, this collection brings together a comprehensive overview of major achievements in patient engagement, analysing political, organizational and clinical contexts. By understanding the concept of care partnership, the authors explore how this patient revolution could transform, improve and innovate the ways in which care services are organized and delivered. Looking closely at the role of new technologies, this timely book will undoubtedly be of use to patients, managers and professionals within the healthcare industry, as well as those researching health policy and organization.

Book Patients Charting the Course

    Book Details:
  • Author : Institute of Medicine
  • Publisher : National Academies Press
  • Release : 2011-10-21
  • ISBN : 0309149932
  • Pages : 338 pages

Download or read book Patients Charting the Course written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-10-21 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As past, current, or future patients, the public should be the health care system's unwavering focus and serve as change agents in its care. Taking this into account, the quality of health care should be judged not only by whether clinical decisions are informed by the best available scientific evidence, but also by whether care is tailored to a patient's individual needs and perspectives. However, too often it is provider preference and convenience, rather than those of the patient, that drive what care is delivered. As part of its Learning Health System series of workshops, the Roundtable on Value & Science-Driven Health Care hosted a workshop to assess the prospects for improving health and lowering costs by advancing patient involvement in the elements of a learning health system.

Book Patients  the Public and Priorities in Healthcare

Download or read book Patients the Public and Priorities in Healthcare written by Peter Littlejohns and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-04-19 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sharing the costs of ill health is the mark of a civilised society. However, every society has limited healthcare resources, and must therefore make finely balanced decisions on how best to allocate them. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has been responsible for the UK's health resource allocation for a decade. To inform its decisions, a Citizens Council of 30 members of the general public was established by NICE to gauge the underlying values of the society it serves. A number of national and international organisations and governments have asked NICE to share its experiences in establishing and running the Citizens Council, and encouraging and supporting patient involvement. As part of NICE's response, this book provides an up to date 'position statement' on the Citizens Council, an exploration of how patients interact with NICE and how their views are taken into account, and a national and international perspective on new issues facing the interaction between patients, the public and healthcare provision. 'Reading this volume will enable you, the reader, to assess how well NICE is acting as a means of fostering responsible public choice. I hope you profit from its chapters as much as I have.' - Albert Weale in his Foreword

Book The Patient Equation

    Book Details:
  • Author : Glen de Vries
  • Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
  • Release : 2020-07-23
  • ISBN : 111975576X
  • Pages : 288 pages

Download or read book The Patient Equation written by Glen de Vries and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-07-23 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the data revolution is transforming biotech and health care, especially in the wake of COVID-19—and why you can’t afford to let it pass you by We are living through a time when the digitization of health and medicine is becoming a reality, with new abilities to improve outcomes for patients as well as the efficiency and success of the organizations that serve them. In The Patient Equation, Glen de Vries presents the history and current state of life sciences and health care as well as crucial insights and strategies to help scientists, physicians, executives, and patients survive and thrive, with an eye toward how COVID-19 has accelerated the need for change. One of the biggest challenges facing biotech, pharma, and medical device companies today is how to integrate new knowledge, new data, and new technologies to get the right treatments to the right patients at precisely the right times—made even more profound in the midst of a pandemic and in the years to come. Drawing on the fascinating stories of businesses and individuals that are already making inroads—from a fertility-tracking bracelet changing the game for couples looking to get pregnant, to an entrepreneur reinventing the treatment of diabetes, to Medidata's own work bringing clinical trials into the 21st century—de Vries shares the breakthroughs, approaches, and practical business techniques that will allow companies to stay ahead of the curve and deliver solutions faster, cheaper, and more successfully—while still upholding the principles of traditional therapeutic medicine and reflecting the current environment. How new approaches to cancer and rare diseases are leading the way toward precision medicine What data and digital technologies enable in the building of robust, effective disease management platforms Why value-based reimbursement is changing the business of life sciences How the right alignment of incentives will improve outcomes at every stage of the patient journey Whether you're a scientist, physician, or executive, you can't afford to let the moment pass: understand the landscape with this must-read roadmap for success—and see how you can change health care for the better.

Book The Antidote to Suffering  How Compassionate Connected Care Can Improve Safety  Quality  and Experience

Download or read book The Antidote to Suffering How Compassionate Connected Care Can Improve Safety Quality and Experience written by Christina Dempsey and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2017-11-03 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An indispensable guide to reducing the suffering―of patients and caregivers alike―and to improving healthcare delivery for all In our efforts to treat patients, cure illness, and manage institutions, healthcare professionals too often overlook the fundamental purpose everyone in the industry shares: to alleviate suffering. Press Ganey’s Chief Nursing Officer, Christina Dempsey, has worked everywhere in healthcare, from the ward floor to the hospital boardroom. She has also experienced the system as a patient and as a family member of a critically ill patient. In The Antidote to Suffering, this 30-year healthcare veteran and patient-experience thought leader argues that the key to improving healthcare is to reduce the suffering—physical, psychological, and emotional—of patients and caregivers alike through Compassionate Connected CareTM. Drawing on her 360-degree perspective, Dempsey offers a comprehensive, detailed, evidence-based plan that addresses the clinical, operational, cultural, and behavioral dimensions of care that every patient and caregiver experiences, in every setting. When suffering decreases, Dempsey argues, outcomes improve for patients and those who care for them. A virtuous cycle takes hold, leading to increases in morale, loyalty, and productivity and results in a culture that drives quality, safety, and value. It paves the path for creating a new national healthcare culture—one that values compassion, fosters efficiency, and drives innovation The Antidote to Suffering is the first book to explore the pervasiveness of suffering in our healthcare system, and to provide the strategies and tools to: * Identify and measure suffering throughout your organization * Create a system in which every clinical response is informed by compassion * Operationalize staff behavior to promote meaning and purpose * Increase productivity by building a culture of collaboration Reducing human suffering isn’t just a moral imperative for healthcare providers. It’s a practical way to improve organizations and fix our broken system—without sacrificing the respect, dignity, and compassion we all deserve.

Book Priority Areas for National Action

Download or read book Priority Areas for National Action written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-03-10 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new release in the Quality Chasm Series, Priority Areas for National Action recommends a set of 20 priority areas that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other groups in the public and private sectors should focus on to improve the quality of health care delivered to all Americans. The priority areas selected represent the entire spectrum of health care from preventive care to end of life care. They also touch on all age groups, health care settings and health care providers. Collective action in these areas could help transform the entire health care system. In addition, the report identifies criteria and delineates a process that DHHS may adopt to determine future priority areas.

Book A Healthcare Solution

    Book Details:
  • Author : Mark A. Vonderembse
  • Publisher : CRC Press
  • Release : 2016-10-14
  • ISBN : 1315350750
  • Pages : 297 pages

Download or read book A Healthcare Solution written by Mark A. Vonderembse and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-10-14 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The evidence is undeniable. By any measure, the US spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world, yet its health outcomes as measure by longevity are in the bottom half among developed countries, and its health-related quality of life has remained constant or declined since 1998. In addition to high costs and lower than expected outcomes, the healthcare delivery system is plagues by treatment delays as it can take weeks to see a specialist, and many people have limited or no access to care. Part of the challenge is that the healthcare delivery system is a large, complex, and sophisticated value creation chain. Successfully changing this highly interconnected system is difficult and time consuming because the underlying problems are hard to comprehend, the root causes are many, the solution is unclear, and the relationships among problems, causes, and solution are multifaceted. To address these issues, the book carefully explains the underlying problems, examines their root causes using information, data, and logic, and presents a comprehensive and integrated solution that addresses these causes. These three steps are the methodological backbone of this book. A solution depends on understanding and applying the principles of patient-centered care (PCC) and resource management. PCC puts patients, supported by their primary care physicians, back in the role as decision makers and depends on patients being responsible for their health including making good life-style choices. After all, the best way to reduce healthcare costs and increase quality of life is to improve our health and wellness and as a result need less care. In addition, health insurance must be rethought and redesigned so it is less likely to lead to overuse. For many people with health insurance, the out-of-pocket cost of healthcare are small, so healthcare decision making is often biased toward consumption. Effective resource management means that healthcare providers must do a better job of acquiring and using resources in order to provide care quickly, productively, and correctly. This means improving healthcare strategy and management, accelerating the use of information technology, making drug costs affordable and fair, reducing the incidence of malpractice, and rebuilding the provider network. In addition, implementation is difficult because there are many participants in the healthcare delivery value chain, such as physicians, nurses, and medical technicians, as well as many provider organizations, such as hospitals, clinics, physician offices, and labs. Further up the value chain there are pharmaceutical companies, equipment providers, and other suppliers. These participants have diverse and sometimes conflicting goals, but each must be willing to accept change and work in a coordinated manner to improve healthcare. To overcome these problems, strong national leadership is needed to get the attention and support from the people and organizations involved in healthcare and to make the comprehensive changes that will lower healthcare costs, improve healthcare quality, eliminate delays, increase access, and enhance patient satisfaction.