About Reports

IOM reports provide objective and straightforward advice to decision makers and the public. This site includes IOM reports published after 1998. All reports from the IOM and the National Academies, including those published before 1998, are available from the National Academies Press.

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  Policy Issues in the Development of Personalized Medicine in Oncology. Workshop Summary Released: February 8, 2010

  As cancer care becomes more personalized, patients will receive preventive or therapeutic interventions based on their susceptibilities or predicted responses. But before the use of personalized cancer care can reach its full potential, the health care system must resolve a number of policy issues. To explore these policy challenges, the National Cancer Policy Forum held this workshop in June 2009.
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  Medical Surge Capacity. Workshop Summary Released: January 27, 2010

  IOM’s Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events held a workshop in June 2009 to assess the health system’s capabilities to respond to a large and sudden increase in the number of individuals seeking medical care during public health emergencies and to discuss strategies to improve preparedness for such a surge.
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  Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: A National Strategy for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis B and C Released: January 11, 2010

  This IOM report concludes that the current approach to the prevention and control of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C is not working and that new actions must be taken to reduce illnesses and deaths related to these preventable diseases.
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  The Domestic and International Impacts of the 2009-H1N1 Influenza A Pandemic: Global Challenges, Global Solutions. Workshop Summary Released: December 29, 2009

  This report summarizes a workshop held in mid-September 2009 on the domestic and international responses to the H1N1 influenza A pandemic.
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  The Healthcare Imperative: Lowering Costs and Improving Outcomes. Workshop Summary Released: December 16, 2009

  The Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine held a three-part workshop series to explore opportunities to reduce health care costs without compromising health status, quality of care, or innovation.
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  Value in Health Care: Accounting for Cost, Quality, Safety, Outcomes, and Innovation. Workshop Summary Released: December 16, 2009

  The Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine held a workshop to facilitate public understanding and discussions of value in health care. This report summarizes the workshop discussions.
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  Priorities for the National Vaccine Plan Released: December 11, 2009

  The National Vaccine Plan facilitates coordination of the vaccine enterprise across the United States. In this report, the IOM finds that although the National Vaccine Program has had some great successes and can provide examples of excellent coordination, the Plan has not functioned as intended.
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  Benefit-Cost Analysis for Early Childhood Interventions. Workshop Summary Released: December 10, 2009

  Convincing analysis of benefits and costs can provide a guide to the best ways to spend scarce resources for early childhood programs. This report summarizes a workshop held by the Board on Children, Youth, and Families on March 4-5, 2009, to explore ways to strengthen benefit-cost analysis so it can be used to support effective policy decisions.
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  Measures of Health Literacy. Workshop Summary Released: December 8, 2009

  Understanding and using basic health information and being able to navigate the complexities of the health care system are critical to good health. Health literacy can be difficult to assess, however, as it is not only a measure of individuals’ understanding of health information at various points in time but also a measure of how well various health care systems have been organized. The Roundtable on Health Literacy held a workshop on February 26, 2009, to examine what is known about measures of health literacy.
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  BioWatch and Public Health Surveillance: Evaluating Systems for the Early Detection of Biological Threats. Abbreviated Version: Summary Released: December 7, 2009

  In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) introduced the BioWatch program—a federal monitoring system intended to speed detection of specific biological agents that could be released in aerosolized form during a biological attack. A report by the IOM and the National Research Council evaluates the costs and merits of the BioWatch program, examines infectious disease surveillance through U.S. hospitals and public health agencies, and considers whether BioWatch and traditional infectious disease surveillance are redundant or complementary.