Meanwhile, other specialties of medicine began to place greater emphasis on quality and safety.

In 1999 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the (U.S.) National Academy of Sciences summarized available safety information in a report entitled
To Err is Human: Building a Safer Healthcare System. That document highlighted many opportunities for improved quality and safety in the American health care system. A subsequent IOM report,
Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century, explored the way that variation in medical practice reduced quality and safety of health care system. More recently, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement has been “motivating and building the will for change; identifying and testing new models of care in partnership with both patients and health care professionals; and ensuring the broadest possible adoption of best practices and effective innovations,” as described on its web site.