ANA Commends Institute of Medicine for 21st Century Health System Recommendations

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Mar 14, 2001

Washington, DC -- The American Nurses Association (ANA) applauds the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for its report, released yesterday, detailing recommendations for a broad overhaul of the nation's health care delivery system in order to innovate and improve the quality of care Americans receive in the future.

The ANA agrees with the Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New System for the 21st Century report's assertion that "research on the quality of care reveals a picture of a system that frequently falls short in its ability to translate clinical knowledge and technology into practice." And ANA further supports the report's finding that "the health care system, as it is currently structured, cannot consistently deliver effective care in a safe, timely and efficient manner."

"This report reinforces what nurses across America have been saying all along: that it is the system itself that is in need of fixing, and that there is an urgent need for massive reorganization and reform of all systems issues," said ANA President Mary Foley, MS, RN.

The ANA supports many of the IOM study recommendations, including the call for an information-technology-based, multidisciplinary approach to improving care -- especially for such common chronic conditions as heart disease, asthma and diabetes -- and for comprehensive services to patients.

The ANA also supports the IOM's recommendation that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) monitor and track quality improvements in the six dimensions of safety, effectiveness, responsiveness to patients, timeliness, efficiency and equity. And, ANA is particularly supportive of the committee's 10 new rules intended to make the health system more patient centered and empowering, as well as safer, more efficient and quality- and performance-focused.

Full ANA press release: http://www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/2001/pr0305.htm

Insitute of Medicine press release: http://www4.nas.edu/onpi/webextra.nsf/web/chasm?OpenDocument