Donald Berwick Quotes

• We must accept human error as inevitable - and design around that fact.

  Donald Berwick

  Errors, Design, Facts

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• Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

  Donald Berwick

  Results

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• It boggles my mind that the same people who cry ‘foul’ about rationing an instant later argue to reduce health care benefits for the needy, to defund crucial programs of care and prevention, and to shift thousands of dollars of annual costs to people – elders, the poor, the disabled – who are least able to bear them.

  Donald Berwick

  People, Mind, Dollars

  Donald M. Berwick (2013). “Promising Care: How We Can Rescue Health Care by Improving It”, p.213, John Wiley & Sons

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• I think health care is more about love than about most other things. If there isn't at the core of this two human beings who have agreed to be in a relationship where one is trying to help relieve the suffering of another, which is love, you can't get to the right answer here.

  Donald Berwick

  Love You, Thinking, Two

  Interview with Maggie Mahar, www.pbs.org. August 28, 2009.

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• We are guests in our patients' lives.

  Donald Berwick

  Guests, Patient

  "Patient Reviews: Putting Doctors on the Examining Table" by Mark Britton, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 24, 2011.

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• Some is not a number. Soon is not a time.

  Donald Berwick

  Numbers

  Donald M. Berwick (2013). “Promising Care: How We Can Rescue Health Care by Improving It”, p.47, John Wiley & Sons

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• Competition makes things come out right. Well, what does that mean in health care? More hospitals so they compete with each other. More doctors compete with each other. More pharmaceutical companies. We set up war. Wait a minute, let's talk about the patient. The patient doesn't need a war.

  Donald Berwick

  War, Mean, Doctors

  Interview with Maggie Mahar, www.pbs.org. August 28, 2009.

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• It is, I guess, politically correct, widely believed, that to say that American health care is the best in the world. It's not.

  Donald Berwick

  World, Care, Health Care

  Interview with Maggie Mahar, www.pbs.org. August 28, 2009.

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• Right now, we are doing it blindly.

  Donald Berwick

  Right Now

  "Rethinking Comparative Effectiveness Research". Interview with Katherine T. Adams, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. June, 2009.

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• Any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must - must - redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent healthcare is by definition re-distributional.

  Donald Berwick

  Care, Definitions, Wealth

  "'Glenn Beck': Who Is Donald Berwick?". www.foxnews.com. July 09, 2010.

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• Traditional medical ethics, based on the doctor-patient relationship must be changed... The primary function of health care regulations should be to limit an individuals own decision-making!

  Donald Berwick

  Doctors, Decision, Regulation

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• The Holy Grail of universal coverage in the United States may remain out of reach unless, through rational collective action overriding some individual self-interest, we can reduce per capita costs.

  Donald Berwick

  Self, Holy Grail, United States

  "The Triple Aim: Care, Health, And Cost" by Donald Berwick, Thomas W. Nolan and John Whittington in "Health Affairs", Volume 27, No. 3 (pp. 759-769), May/June 2008.

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• As a doctor, an educator, an innovator and someone who has dedicated his professional career to making things work better and to helping people – I am ready to lead.

  Donald Berwick

  Doctors, Careers, People

  "Berwick announces run for governor" by Joanne Kenen, www.politico.com. June 17, 2013.

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• In an interview, last year in the journal Biotechnology Healthcare, Dr. Berwick said, “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.

  Donald Berwick

  Eye, Years, Decision

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• I am romantic about the NHS. I love it.

  Donald Berwick

  Nhs

  Donald M. Berwick (2013). “Promising Care: How We Can Rescue Health Care by Improving It”, p.158, John Wiley & Sons

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