Promising Care: How We Can Rescue Health Care by Improving It

Promising Care: How We Can Rescue Health Care by Improving It collects 16 speeches given over a period of 10 years by Donald M. Berwick, an internationally acclaimed champion of health care improvement throughout the course of his long and storied career as a physician, health care educator and policy expert, leader of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. These landmark speeches (including all of Berwick's speeches delivered at IHI's annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care from 2003 to 2012) clearly show why our medical systems don't reliably contribute to our overall health. As a remedy he offers a vision for making our systems better ― safer, more effective, more efficient, and more humane.

Each of Berwick's compelling speeches is preceded by a brief commentary by a prominent figure in health care, policy, or politics who has a unique connection to that particular speech. Contributors include such notables as Tom Daschle, Paul Batalden, and Lord Nigel Crisp. Their commentaries reflect on how it felt to hear the speech in the context in which it was delivered, and assess its relevance in today's health care environment. The introduction is by Maureen Bisognano, CEO of Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and author of Pursuing the Triple Aim.

Praise for previous books by Don Berwick

Curing Health Care:

"The book is an easy and affirming read for anyone who is familiar with and has used the TQM teachings of Dr. Joseph M. Juran and Dr. W. Edwards Deming and would be a simple and informative introduction to the concepts for anyone who has been hearing about TQM but has no idea what it is all about and wants to know more."
―Permanent Fixes (blog)

"Donald Berwick is the most clearly heard evangelist of applying industrial methods of continuous quality improvement in health care."
―Annals of Internal Medicine

Escape Fire:

"With an effective blend of common sense, real-life stories, persuasive metaphors, and out-of-the-box thinking, Dr. Berwick's presentations make for fascinating reading for anyone interested in improving America's $1.7 trillion health care system."
―Piper Report

"Anyone interested in change in the healthcare system would enjoy this book. In degree programs, the various speeches would be useful for discussion in a health policy readings course."
―The Annals of Pharmacotherapy

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, is president emeritus and senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), an organization that he cofounded and led for eighteen years. He is one of the nation's leading authorities on health care quality and improvement. In July 2010, President Obama appointed Dr. Berwick to the position of administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which he held until December 2011. A pediatrician by background, Dr. Berwick has served as clinical professor of Pediatrics and Health Care Policy at the Harvard Medical School, professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a member of the staffs of Boston Children's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Berwick is the author of Escape Fire and coauthor of the books, Curing Health Care and New Rules, also available from Jossey-Bass.