Welcome
Clinical advances in healthcare rarely change the industry dramatically. Sir William Osler, a pioneer of modern medicine, witnessed such a time in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Near the end of his career, he made these comments to providers at the opening of the Phipps Clinic in England.
I am sorry for you, young men [and women] of this generation. You will do great things. You will have great victories, and standing on our shoulders, you will see far, but you can never have our sensations. To have lived through a revolution, to have seen a new birth of science, a new dispensation of health, reorganized medical schools, remodeled hospitals, a new outlook for humanity, is not given to every generation.1
We, too, live in such a time. The next generation of providers will stand on our shoulders and do great things because of the work we put in today. Meeting Iowa's healthcare challenges will not be easy, but our hard work will lay the foundation for the next generations of providers. The hospitals and physicians of Iowa are committed and focused on addressing the needs of our state.
Issues surrounding access to care, technology, financing, and patient safety have introduced a critical period of healthcare innovation. Physicians and hospitals in Iowa are striving to measure clinical processes and report useful findings to the public. This annual Iowa Report on Quality, Patient Safety and Value is an outgrowth of provider effort and demonstrates their commitment to this task.
Production of this report was made possible through a matching grant from the State of Iowa to further the work of the Collaborative. Special thanks are due to the following organizations and individuals who contributed their time and energy to produce this report: Iowa Hospital Association –
Perry Meyer, Art Spies, Gail Meyer, and Kathy Trytten; Iowa Medical Society – Heidi Goodman, Amir Karamuja, and Eric Nemmers; University of Iowa College of Public Health – Lance Roberts, and Marcia Ward, PhD; and Iowa Foundation for Medical Care – Timothy Gutshall, MD.
This Iowa Report presents information from both publicly reported national research databases and hospital self-evaluation. It demonstrates the excellent quality of care provided in Iowa and our commitment to transparency in improving healthcare for Iowa's future. We hope that the report takes us another step toward revolutionizing care in Iowa.
Tom Evans, MD
President/CEO
1Reid, Edith Gittings. The Great Physician: The Life of Sir William Osler, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1931 (p. 241).
