Quality Care

Institute of Medicine Aims

Improvement requires setting aims. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in Washington, DC, released To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, a report that brought public attention to the issue of patient safety in the United States. In 2001, the IOM issued a second report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: a New Health System for the 21st Century, which outlines six “Aims for Improvement” for health care:

Safe — Avoid injuries to patients from the care that is intended to help them. Safety must be at the forefront of patient care.
Effective — Match care to science; avoid overuse of ineffective care and underuse of effective care.
Patient-Centered — Honor the individual and respect choice. Each patient’s culture, social context and specific needs deserve respect, and the patient should play an active role in making decisions about her own care.
Timely — Reduce waiting for both patients and those who give care. Prompt attention benefits both the patient and the caregiver.
Efficient — Reduce waste. The health care system should constantly seek to reduce the waste and the cost of supplies, equipment, space, capital, ideas, time and opportunities.
Equitable — Close racial and ethnic gaps in health status. Race, ethnicity, gender and income should not prevent anyone from receiving high-quality care.