EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Improving Care and Advancing Performance

System ” that would include the capacity for learning more quickly and effectively from the delivery of health care. An infrastructure capable of supporting rapid learning could meet critical needs for better evidence in, at a minimum, three areas: measuring the quality and cost of health care; comparative clinical effectiveness research; and medical product safety surveillance. Patient registries — databases of clinical information critical to evaluating care processes and outcomes — can play a vital role in measuring quality and cost. However, as the role of registries is often limited by significant shortcomings in their current design and function, they must be adapted and expanded t