Berwick outlines choices shaping post-pandemic health care

In an essay on the changes that may occur in health care as a result of the current pandemic, Donald Berwick, MD, president emeritus and senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, lists choices decision-makers face today as they shape the future of health care. Among the questions: Will health care leaders be able to sustain the faster tempo of research and development? Will they continue to share best practices and make them the standard of care? Will they bring virtual care to scale? Will they address social and economic inequalities that predispose some to health and others to illness? “Fate will not create the new normal,” Berwick wrote. “Choices will.” (JAMA Viewpoint editorial, 5/4/20)