Gary Feuerberg Epoch Times Staff Created: September 9, 2012 Last Updated: September 9, 2012

(L to R) Gail Cassell, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School; Craig Jones, M.D., Vermont Blueprint for Health; Mark Smith, M.D., California HealthCare Foundation; Rita Redberg, M.D., editor, Archives of Internal Medicine; and T. Berguson Jr., M.D., Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C. The panel discussed Sept. 6 an Institute of Medicine report, Best Care at Lower Cost. (Gary Feuerberg/ The Epoch Times)

WASHINGTONOur health care delivery system needs to be fundamentally reformed, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine, titled Best Care at Lower Cost.

In the past 50 years, there has been an explosion in biomedical knowledge and impressive innovations in therapies and surgical procedures, as well as new capabilities in improving the survival of patients. Yet in terms of quality of care, cost, and meeting patient needs, American health care is falling short.

How is it possible that we spend much more on health care and at the same time we do not attain in health care outcomes and performance that [other countries] are able to achieve? asked Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president of Institute of Medicine (IOM). Fineberg was speaking at a press conference, Sept. 6 on the release of the report.

The 331-page Institute of Medicine report was written by an 18-member committee, five of whom were present at the news conference.

The findings are staggering. About $750 billion or 30 percent of health spending in 2009 was wasted, according to the report. Moreover, if the quality of care were raised to the level of the best performing state, an estimated 75,000 fewer deaths across the country would have occurred in 2005, according to one estimate cited in the report.

One reason for inefficiencies is the ever-increasing complexity of the health care system. From diagnostic and treatment procedures, to the care management options available, and even administrationso many aspects of the system are more complicated than ever before.

Today, a clinician cannot keep up with the expanding volume of new discoveries in treating disease. The number of research publications on health care topics per year has grown from slightly over 200,000 in 1970 to more than 750,000 in 2010, said Mark Smith, M.D., committee chair. The sheer volume of new discoveries stresses the system to manage the knowledge and effectively apply it to regular care.

Care delivery has increased in complexity. Clinicians in intensive care units, who care for the hospitals sickest patients, must oversee about 180 activities per day ranging from replacing intravenous fluids to administering drugs.

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Institute of Health: Health Care System Needs Change