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Lessons from the 1970s |
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In a recent edition of Patient Safety and Quality in Healthcare, author Barry Chaiken compares the health care industry today with the American auto industry of the 1970s. As anyone old enough to remember the Ford Pinto or the Chevrolet Vega can attest, American cars of that era were reliably unreliable. The automaker's philosophy was to fix errors after assembly, instead of ensuring manufacturing processes were adequate in the first place. Although most of us in healthcare would like to think our production quality is better than a Pinto, it could be argued that hospital readmission rates reflect low production quality. As rules for reimbursement evolve, our philosophy and culture must also evolve to fully embrace continuous quality improvement.
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