In 2000 and 2001, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued two reports, To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm, documenting a glaring divergence between the rush of progress in medical science and the deterioration of health care delivery.

In response to this challenge, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and IOM, with support from the National Science Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the NAE Fund, convened a committee of 14 engineers and health care professionals to identify engineering tools and technologies that could help the health system overcome these crises and deliver care that is safe, effective, timely, patient-centered, efficient, and equitable -- the six quality aims envisioned in Crossing the Quality Chasm.

This report, Building a Better Delivery System: A New Engineering/Health Care Partnership, is the culmination of the joint NAE/IOM study and concludes that U.S. health care industry has neglected engineering strategies and technologies that have revolutionized quality, productivity, and performance in many other industries.

This "collective inattention" has contributed to serious consequences in health care -- nearly 100,000 preventable deaths per year, outdated procedures, about a half-trillion dollars wasted annually through inefficiency, costs rising at roughly three times the rate of inflation, and 43 million people uninsured. According to the committee, health care professionals and engineers should work more closely together to address these challenges.