Health Systems Science (HSS) emerged from the American Medical Association’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium and is now the third pillar of medical education. Health Systems Science is the fundamental understanding of how health care is delivered, how health care professionals work together to deliver that care and how the health system can improve patient care and health care delivery. Health Systems Science was published in December 2016 and is the first comprehensive, practical reference for learning this emerging science of healthcare delivery.

The authors describe the importance of each of the three pillars, stating that, “The basic sciences are essential for a physician or other health care professional to understand the human body and its function. The clinical sciences are essential to translate that understanding into care for the human body. HSS is essential for physicians and other health care professionals to help insure that patients, communities, and populations achieve optimal health outcomes.”

Dr. Blackford Middleton, Chief Informatics and Innovation Officer of Apervita, Inc., a Chicago based health analytics platform recently reviewed Health Systems Science in the Journal of Biomedical Informatics. He walks through the 15 chapters of the 228-page book and concludes that, “…this is an extremely readable and well thought out book that presents a comprehensive set of well written and referenced chapters pertaining to the emerging field of health systems science – the new third pillar of health professions education.” Read the full review on ScienceDirect.

Learn more about Health Systems Science here.

Sample a free chapter here.

Watch now: Drs. Luan Lawson, Dan Wlopaw, & Richard Hawkins share their insights about the importance of educating today’s students on this evolving topic.