Doctors use vital signs as a relatively straightforward way to detect an illness or monitor a person’s health. Key ones include blood pressure, body temperature, breathing rate, and heart rate. A report from the newly christened National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) proposes using 15 “vital signs” to track how health care in the United States measures up: life expectancy well-being overweight and obesity addictive behavior unintended pregnancy healthy communities preventive services access to care patient safety evidence-based care care that matches patient goals personal spending burden population spending burden individual engagement community engagement. Why bother creating such a list? Health care costs in the U.S. are the highest in the world, yet people in many countries that spend less