Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care for America reflects the contributions of many people. The committee would like to acknowledge and express strong appreciation to those who so generously participated in the development of this report.

First, we would like to thank the sponsors of this project, the Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Charina Endowment Fund, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, for their financial support.

The committee would also like to thank Lynn Etheredge for his assistance with this effort. He was a member of the committee from January 1, 2011, until August 2, 2011, and his contributions to the committee's early thinking are very much appreciated.

The committee's deliberations were informed by presentations and discussions at four meetings held between January 2011 and January 2012. Additional input was sought from numerous outside stakeholders, and we would like to thank the 137 organizations and individuals who provided their input on committee directives.

A number of Institute of Medicine (IOM) staff played instrumental roles in coordinating the committee meetings and the preparation of this report, including Leigh Stuckhardt, Julia Sanders, Claudia Grossmann, Brian Powers, Valerie Rohrbach, and Isabelle Von Kohorn. The committee would also like to thank Lauren Tobias, Laura Harbold DeStefano, and Sarah Ziegenhorn for helping to coordinate the various aspects of report review, production, and publication. Committee consultant Rona Briere, Briere Associates, Inc., made indispensable contributions to the report production and publication processes. Additionally, we would like to thank both Column Five Media and LeAnn Locher for their contributions to the graphic portrayal and cover of this report. The committee would especially like to thank Robert Saunders, study director, for his overall guidance and support. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the guidance and contributions of Michael McGinnis, IOM senior scholar, throughout the study process.

America has the potential to realize a transformative learning health care system that could revolutionize the way care is delivered and understood. While great strides have already been made with new policy, sturdy dedication and engagement will continue to be instrumental as health care delivery in the United States is restructured. We look forward to building upon the ideas that have emerged in this report and achieving a learning health care system.