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Building a Better Delivery System A New Engineering/Health Care Partnership (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Part I: Consensus Report. 1. A New Partnership Between Systems Engineering and Medicine
Pages 9-18

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From page 11...
... The U.S. market for health care could be used to redesign care processes at various levels of services has supported this focus by rewarding innovation in the delivery system." medical procedures and interventions and the drugs, devices, This report presents a case for a vigorous new partnership and equipment linked to them with relatively little regard for between engineering and health care to redress system cost.
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From page 12...
... In addition, the growing number of uninsured systems-design, -analysis, and -management tools that increases the disease burden on the uninsured population and have transformed other sectors of the American imposes a heavy cost burden on providers and payers. economy In response to the escalating cost of health care, government and industry -- the third-party payers for most people- Science, Technology, Specialization, and Complexity have shifted a growing share of the cost burden back to care providers and patients by reducing health care benefits, Advances in medical science and technology since World requiring that providers and patients pay a greater share of War II have been a major reason for the growing complexity rising health insurance premiums, increasing co-payments, of American health care, the growing number and increased increasing deductibles, and, in some cases, dropping employee specialization of people involved in health care delivery, health coverage altogether (Regopoulos and Trude, 2004)
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From page 13...
... Most the infrastructure, management systems, and supporting physicians are not trained to work effectively as members of human and material resources for the health care professionals care-provider teams, and the health care sector as a whole who deliver care to patients, rely heavily on clinicians who has failed to invest its resources in information infrastructure, function as "independent agents." information and systems-management tools, and supporting This highly fragmented, highly specialized, independent educational, research, and organizational capital that could practitioner-driven, hospital-centered system of health care begin to offset the deep-seated structural and cultural delivery has not kept pace with rapid advances in medical obstacles to coordinated, integrated, continuous patient care. knowledge or adapted well to the growing need for chronic care.
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From page 14...
... In transportation, financial involves the coordination and management of large numbers services, communications, and manufacturing industries, of highly specialized, distributed personnel, multiple streams modern information/communications systems have enabled of information, and material and financial resources across and hastened the development of new high-quality products multiple care settings, it is astounding that health care has and services and the management of increasingly dispersed not made better use of the design, analysis, and control tools and complex production systems. Along with rapid increases of systems engineering.
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From page 15...
... In short, the dimensional performance challenges and identified proven, principles, tools, and research from engineering disciplines fundamental engineering concepts, such as designing for associated with the analysis, design, and control of complex safety, mass customization, continuous flow, and produc- systems (systems engineering, industrial engineering, tion planning, that could be brought to bear immediately to operations research, human-factors engineering, financial redesign and improve care processes. engineering/risk analysis, materials/microelectromechanical systems engineering, etc.)
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From page 16...
... By the address various dimensions of the quality/productivity same token, few engineers are knowledgeable of the complex challenges at all levels of the health care system, describe sociotechnical fabric of health care processes and systems. specific applications of systems-engineering tools and Thus, they cannot communicate with health care providers information/communications technologies to advance the in terms and concepts that take account of their values and quality and patient-centeredness of health care delivery, and perceptions.
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From page 17...
... Prepared for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Key Terms

  • care processes
  • american health
  • medical science
  • improve health
  • care professionals

  • century health
  • patient care
  • care services
  • care crises
  • clinical information

  • highly specialized
  • rising health
  • acute care
  • care enterprise
  • medical procedures

  • medical evidence
  • iom report
  • technology deficit
  • engineering applications
  • services industries

  • treat illnesses
  • rapid advances
  • picker institute
  • johnson foundation
  • growing share

  • material resources
  • private insurers
  • chronic conditions
  • robert wood
  • quality aims


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