Potent Medicine is written for patients, insurance companies, policy-makers and anyone who works in a hospital or health system. By speaking to this broad audience, the author has identified actions each group needs to take to make improvements to the system. For example true transparency means using words like death and risk and error. A patient evaluating a hospital for heart surgery needs to research a few simple measures of quality.* Number of medical errors committed in a hospital yesterday, shown both as a number and a historical trend * Number of surgical infections last month * Number of people who come in with chest pains and die * Percentage of people requiring this surgery who died in the hospital, and how many died within the last six months * Average number of days to a full recoveryPotent Medicine is the compelling follow-up to Dr Toussaint"s first book, On the Mend. The stories highlight the tragic consequences that occur when medical teams do not follow a patient"s progress and just pass them through the system.It offers practical advice from Wisconsin"s collaborative efforts to transform healthcare and deliver better patient value and is focused on these 3 elements:* Delivery of care designed around the patient - using lean principles and methods to deliver care focused on patient needs * Transparency of treatment quality and cost - making healthcare outcomes public for everyone * Payment for outcome - move away from fee-for-service to a system that pays based on quality and efficient carePotent Medicine highlights the steps to achieving a quality healthcare system.