Federal initiatives in information technology to improve patient safety and quality of care

In November 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report that focused on patient safety in the United States (U.S.), in which it estimated that up to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year from medical errors. In March 2001, the IOM released a follow-up report encompassing a broader range of quality issues in the U.S. health care system. It concluded that health care in the U.S. is plagued by a variety of problems which stem from an outmoded system that does not provide high-quality care on a consistent basis. The IOM also outlined a strategy for redesigning U.S. healthcare to achieve safe, dependable, high-quality care, which emphasizes information technology as an integral part of the solution. In 2001, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) spent $50 million on initiatives to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. The crux of these initiatives was a series of solicitations that form an integrated set of research and demonstration projects for reducing medical errors in multiple health care settings. This chapter will discuss some of these initiatives, focusing on the role of clinical informatics in the Agency's efforts to improve the safety and quality of health care in the U.S.