Recent studies published by The RAND Corporation report that for many clinical conditions with known best practices for quality care, only about 50 percent of patients receive care consistent with the recommendations. The inconsistent application of evidence-based care leads to variation — sometimes significant variation — in the quality of care Americans receive. Put another way, the American health care system is unreliable at providing high quality care.
What would a reliable health care system look like? A reliable health care system is one that is designed to ensure that every patient consistently receives evidence-based, effective care every time he or she needs it. In a reliable health care system, there would be no variation in the kind or quality of care due to the time or place of care, or because of geography, gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic status.
