“Between the health care we have and the care we could
have lies not just a gap, but a chasm.”
-- Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health Care System
for the 21st Century, Institute of Medicine, 2001
Remaking American Medicine™…Health Care for the 21st Century is a four-part, primetime public television series to be broadcast in the spring of 2006. It follows an array of pioneering individuals struggling to fix the broken health care system. Drawing on extraordinary access inside health care institutions, the series presents compelling stories that will empower viewers to become advocates for better care and to make decisions about public policy that will improve the quality of health care for all Americans.
The series and a supporting national outreach campaign are made possible through lead corporate sponsorship by the Amgen Foundation with major underwriting from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation®. The Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation have also made grants. Additional resources to support the campaign have been made available through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The Hospital begins by introducing viewers to health care as it actually is, not as they believe it to be. The program then profiles acute care facilities that are struggling to deliver care that is safer, more effective, more efficient, and ultimately yields dramatic improvements in patients’ lives.
Living With Chronic Disease reveals the enormous challenges facing a health care system largely unprepared to address the needs of the nearly 100 million Americans now suffering from chronic illnesses. The program will explore innovative models of care that not only save resources and improve the health of those with chronic illnesses, but also are fundamentally transforming the relationship between patients and their providers of care.
Community by Community examines how models of excellence in acute care and chronic disease management are being expanded to entire communities. This program will look at efforts to improve health care within a local region, while at the same time exploring the economic, political and social forces that often stand in the way of such reform efforts.
Champions of Change looks at the challenges facing those attempting to improve the quality of the entire health care system. The program examines three levers of change that have the potential to drive improvement efforts: innovative education programs; patient advocates working both inside and outside the system; and collaborative efforts among the major stakeholders in health care.
As of Sep. 2005
The national outreach campaign for Remaking American Medicine is intended to help motivate, re-energize and inspire individuals, organizations and institutions to support the improvement of health care in their respective communities. The goal is to stimulate a national dialogue about the importance of improving American health care and to facilitate the development of coalitions that will augment such a conversation at the local, regional and national level.
To date, 43 national organizations have agreed to join the campaign as National Partners. They represent health care providers, purchasers, consumers and patient advocates, health care quality experts and government and regulatory agencies. Collectively, National Partners reach more than 100 million Americans. They are encouraging their members/affiliates to become involved in Remaking American Medicine coalitions in communities across the country. For a complete National Partner list, log on to RAMcampaign.org.
Currently, more than 30 coalitions are already being formed with many more expected to participate in this important grassroots effort. Most coalitions are working closely with their local PBS stations and Quality Improvement Organizations. For example, the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation, in collaboration with Alabama Public Television, will undertake a series of quality rallies around the state focusing on individuals and institutions that are leaders in quality health care. They will be featured in a local program that will run in tandem with the national series. In Missouri, Primaris Health and KETC/St. Louis will produce a four-part series that will profile several Missouri families. Their local coalition will conduct a statewide outreach campaign that will include a speakers’ bureau featuring experts on quality health care.
Visit RAMcampaign.org and learn more about the national campaign and the quality health care movement. RAMcampaign.org is designed to help you connect with others who are involved in this important initiative. It also provides important tools and resources for those who wish to begin their own efforts.
Remaking American Medicine is a production of Crosskeys Media, headed by award-winning documentary filmmakers, Frank Christopher and Matthew Eisen. The series is being produced in consultation with an independent panel of leading health care experts. It is being presented on PBS by public television station, KQED/San Francisco.
DCI, a public relations and marketing firm, is responsible for the national outreach campaign, working in collaboration with Crosskeys Media. For additional information, please contact: