Making Health Care Better: What We Can Learn From Intermountain Healthcare
FYI
I strongly encourage all of you to read an article that appeared in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine section. The piece was written by David Leonheadt and entitled “Making Health Care Better.” The article discussed in some detail the work Intermountain Health Care (IMHC) was doing to improve patient care. IMHC is located in Salt Lake City, Utah and is a consortium of hospitals and clinics in the region. For quite a number of years, the organization has focused on developing treatment protocols based on data and analyzing their outcomes. The article focused on Dr. Brent James, the Chief Quality Officer of the organization and the extraordinary successes the group has had in improving patient care. There is much for all of us to learn by reading the article. After you finish the article I suggest you read “The Bell Curve,” written by Atul Gwande as it ties in nicely (if you are feeling worn out after reading the Leonheadt article, you could cheat a bit by reading my entry last year about the Gwande article, but I’d rather you read the article itself).