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Promising Care: How We Can Rescue Health Care by Improving Itcollects 16 speeches given over a period of 10 years by Donald M. Berwick, an internationally acclaimed champion of health care improvement throughout the course of his long and storied career as a physician, health care educator and policy expert, leader of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and administrator of the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services. These landmark speeches (including all of Berwick's speeches delivered at IHI's annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care from 2003 to 2012) clearly show why our medical systems don't reliably contribute to our overall health. As a remedy he offers a vision for making our systems better – safer, more effective, more efficient, and more humane.Each of Berwick's compelling speeches is preceded by a brief commentary by a prominent figure in health care, policy, or politics who has a unique connection to that particular speech. Contributors include such notables as Tom Daschle, Paul Batalden, and Lord Nigel Crisp. Their commentaries reflect on how it felt to hear the speech in the context in which it was delivered, and assess its relevance in today's health care environment. The introduction is by Maureen Bisognano, CEO of Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and author of Pursuing the Triple Aim.Praise for previous books by Don BerwickCuring Health Care:'The book is an easy and affirming read for anyone who is familiar with and has used the TQM teachings of Dr. Joseph M. Juran and Dr. W. Edwards Deming and would be a simple and informative introduction to the concepts for anyone who has been hearing about TQM but has no idea what it is all about and wants to know more.' —Permanent Fixes (blog)'Donald Berwick is the most clearly heard evangelist of applying industrial methods ofcontinuous quality improvement in health care.' —Annals of InternalMedicine Escape Fire:'With an effective blend of common sense, real-life stories, persuasive metaphors, and out-of-the-box thinking, Dr. Berwick's presentations make for fascinating reading for anyone interested in improving America's $1.7 trillion health care system.' —Piper Report'Anyone interested in change in the healthcare system would enjoy this book. In degree programs, the various speeches would be useful for discussion in a health policy readings course.' —The Annals of Pharmacotherapy

1. A new idea -- 2. Journey to Japan -- 3. The blue yarn -- 4. Safety crusade -- 5. Ambulatory care breakthrough -- 6. Transforming procedural care -- 7. Transforming inpatient care -- 8. Better, faster, more affordable -- 9. Management method -- 10. The journey continues.

Just a few generations ago, serious illness, like hazardous weather, arrived with little warning, and people either lived through it or died. In this important, convincing, and long-overdue call for health care reform, Joanne Lynn demonstrates that our current health system, like our concepts of health and disease, developed at a time when life was mostly short, serious illnesses and disabilities were common at every age, and dying was quick. Today, most Americans live a long life, with the disabilities and discomforts of progressive chronic illness appearing only during the final chapters of their life stories. Sick to Death and Not Going to Take It Anymore! maintains that health care and community services are not set up to meet the needs of the large number of people who face a prolonged period of progressive illness and disability before death. Lynn offers what she calls an "owner's manual for the health care system," which lays out facts, concepts, strategies, and action plans for genuine reform and gives the reader new ways to interpret information creatively, imagine innovative possibilities, and take steps to implement them

The essential healthcare guide to doing more with existing resourcesThe Hospital and Clinic Improvement Handbook is a practical guide to how operations management -- in particular Lean and the Theory of Constraints (TOC) -- can rapidly advance value and performance in any healthcare organization. Utilizing a systems approach that will be relevant for healthcare managers and executives, it unpacks and demystifies concepts such as performance measures, operations, quality, cost accounting, pricing, and value enhancement, all as they relate to eliminating waste and non-value-adding activities.

In a 5‐day retreat at a Salzburg Seminar attended by 64 individuals from 29 countries, teams of health professionals, patient advocates, artists, reporters and social scientists adopted the guiding principle of 'nothing about me without me' and created the country of PeoplePower. Designed to shift health care from 'biomedicine' to 'infomedicine', patients and health workers throughout PeoplePower join in informed, shared decision‐making and governance. Drawing, where possible, on computer‐based guidance and communication technologies, patients and clinicians contribute actively to the patient record, transcripts of clinical encounters are shared, and patient education occurs primarily in the home, school and community‐based organizations. Patients and clinicians jointly develop individual 'quality contracts', serving as building blocks for quality measurement and improvement systems that aggregate data, while reflecting unique attributes of individual patients and clinicians. Patients donate process and outcome data to national data banks that fuel epidemiological research and evidence‐based improvement systems. In PeoplePower hospitals, constant patient and employee feedback informs quality improvement work teams of patients and health professionals. Volunteers work actively in all units, patient rooms are information centres that transform their shape and decor as needs and individual preferences dictate, and arts and humanities programmes nourish the spirit. In the community, from the earliest school days the citizenry works with health professionals to adopt responsible health behaviours. Communities join in selecting and educating health professionals and barter systems improve access to care. Finally, lay individuals partner with professionals on all local, regional and national governmental and private health agencies.