SIDM and Leapfrog Team Up Against the Growing Threat to Patient Survival Rates Posed by Diagnostic Errors in U.S. Hospitals

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Each year, more than 12 million Americans experience a diagnostic error, including delayed, wrong, or missed diagnoses. Of these, more than half a million diagnostic errors occur in U.S. hospitals and account for 40,000-80,000 inpatient deaths annually.

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM), in partnership with The Leapfrog Group, is working to reverse this unfortunate trend through the release of Recognizing Excellence in Diagnosis: Recommended Practices for Hospitals.  

The landmark report is the result of an intensive yearlong effort between Leapfrog, an independent watchdog organization focused on healthcare safety, and the nation's leading experts on diagnostic excellence along with key stakeholders including patients and clinicians. 

The report outlines 29 evidence-based actions, practices, and resources that hospitals can implement immediately to better protect patients from the pain and loss associated with diagnostic errors, including:

• Making it easy for patients and family caregivers to report diagnostic errors and concerns
• Implementing "closed-loop" communication to ensure that test results are reviewed by the ordering clinician and communicated to the patient on a timely basis
• Convening a multidisciplinary team to implement diagnostic quality and safety programs hospital wide

As a leading stakeholder identifying the practice recommendations for the report, SIDM will develop tools and training materials to support hospitals in implementing the practices outlined in the report.

"Diagnostic error is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States and the Leapfrog initiative offers hospitals recommended practices to mitigate the enormous human and financial toll of this underappreciated threat to patient safety," said Jennie Ward-Robinson, PhD, SIDM's Chief Executive Officer. "The report recommends concrete, evidence-based practices that hospitals and systems of care can implement NOW, that will have an impact in reducing patient harm."

This report is the first step in Leapfrog's longer-term initiative, Recognizing Excellence in Diagnosis, which aims to rate hospitals and publicly report on diagnostic excellence in the future. Leapfrog will survey hospitals on their current implementation status via a national pilot in fall 2022. The feedback collected from hospitals during the pilot will be used to develop a new section on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey slated for launch in 2024. The initiative is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Assisting the Leapfrog staff in developing the report recommendations were SIDM-affiliated national experts in diagnostic safety, including Mark L Graber, MD, FACP, SIDM founder and President Emeritus; Hardeep Singh, MD, MPH, Chief, Health Policy, Quality and Informatics (HPQI) at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; and Gerrard M. Castro, PhD, MPH, PMP, SIDM Director of Quality Improvement. 

Hospitals interested in volunteering for the national pilot survey in 2022 should contact the Leapfrog Help Desk.

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) catalyzes and leads change to improve diagnosis and eliminate harm from diagnostic error. We work in partnership with patients, their families, the healthcare community, and every interested stakeholder. Members of the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis represent hundreds of thousands of healthcare providers, patients, and leading healthcare systems and organizations. Together we work to find solutions that enhance diagnostic safety and quality, reduce harm, and ensure better outcomes for patients.

Media Inquiries:
Sophie Gibson, VIVO360, Inc., 404 784 4688, [email protected] 

SOURCE The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM)