Abstract

The need for systems to expand and improve their use of evidence was described comprehensively in the 2012 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America.1 The report defined a learning health system as one that “is designed to generate and apply the best evidence for the collaborative health care choices of each patient and provider; to drive the process of discovery as a natural outgrowth of patient care; and to ensure innovation, quality, safety, and value in health care.”