Berwick: How Health Care Can Trim a Trillion in Costs from H and HN

During recently departed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Don Berwick's return to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's National Forum in Orlando earlier this month, I saw him speak twice — once during a keynote address for all Forum attendees, and during a small press briefing.

During both appearances, Berwick hammered home the pressure the health care industry faces to curb health care spending — and how those ends can be accomplished in tandem with improvements to quality. To be sure, Berwick isn't the first health care expert to link reduced costs with quality improvements, but he believes the system, using principles of the Lean and quality improvement movements, could stand to trim a staggering $1 trillion — or what he estimates as roughly a third of overall U.S. health costs.

For the full article please go here.