Learning From Our Mistakes

摘要

Thanks to the unprecedented levels of funding from passage of the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts, Americans can look forward to a significant investment in our health care infrastructure including expanded access to insurance, greater reliance on information technology, and a higher output of health services research. Undoubtedly, the process will not be perfect. Entrenched opinions, bureaucratic inertia, burdensome regulations, and unintended consequences are sure to follow, leading to an important question: As inevitable disappointments arise, can providers as well as policy makers and regulators continuously learn from our mistakes, drop what doesn't work, improve what could work better, and expand on what does work?