Defining world-class care in academic medicine: enablers and challenges.

Abstract

Interest has grown among U.S. academic medical centers in developing international benchmarks for excellence in process and outcomes. Drivers behind this trend, as well as barriers to the development of useful benchmarks, are explored in this invited commentary. The commentary is based on the authors' conversations with members of the U.S. Cooperative for International Patient Programs as well as the University Healthsystem Consortium (UHC). Six key themes are summarized in this commentary, including four key drivers and two barriers. The practice-based perspectives this commentary summarizes provide a useful starting point for researchers and practitioners interested in establishing international comparison with the United States.