Creating a Business Case for Quality Improvement Research: Expert Views: Workshop Summary

Creating a Business Case for Quality Improvement Research focuses on issues related to improving the science supporting health care quality and eliminating communication barriers that prevent advances in the field. In 2007, the Institute of Medicine convened a workshop designed to identify the economic and business disciplines that encourage sustained efforts to improve the quality of health care. Workshop presenters and participants included representatives from academia, government and industry.

A business case for quality improvement depends heavily on the progress made in the following areas: systems change and leadership, data transparency, funding, enhanced training programs and ongoing dialogue between industry officials, patients and their families. They identified a major barrier to these efforts as the nationwide institutional reluctance to invest in quality improvement and documentation of outcomes, due largely to limited resources and competing priorities as to how these resources are spent in the industry. Too often priorities are placed on creating highly-visible technology-driven programs, with less emphasis in meeting the needs and expectations of the patients. In Creating a Business Case for Quality Improvement Research, a diverse group of stakeholders identifies and assesses these and other challenges to attain a better understanding of how to create a high-value health care system for the general population.