Sheldon Whitehouse: “I suggested that three fundamental things are wrong with our health care system: One, it doesn't adequately provide…”

“I suggested that three fundamental things are wrong with our health care system: One, it doesn't adequately provide quality care or invest in prevention; two, the system doesn't have adequate information technology infrastructure; and, three, the way we pay for health care sends perverse price signals that misdirect market forces. I am here today to speak about quality reform, about those areas in our health care system where improving the quality of care will lower the cost--let me repeat that--where improving the quality of care will lower the cost. There is a lot at stake, in money and in lives. Up to 100,000 Americans die every year as a result of unnecessary and avoidable medical errors. By some measures these outcomes are even getting worse. A 2003 article published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that the rate of hospital-acquired infections has actually increased over 36 percent since 1999.”