DxQI Seed Grant Overview
Call for Proposals Now Open
Application Deadline: March 25, 2021 11:59 pm ET
Research has demonstrated that diagnostic errors are the most common, catastrophic, and costly of all causes of preventable medical harm. In fact, errors in diagnosis are the most frequent cause of medical error reported by patients. In total, it’s estimated that 12 million US adults experience a diagnostic error every year in outpatient settings alone. It has also been reported that failures of diagnosis result in as many as 80,000 preventable deaths every year in US hospitals. Through a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, researchers from John Hopkins University and CRICO Strategies found that one in three malpractice cases that result in death or permanent disability stem from an inaccurate or delayed diagnosis and resulted in $1.8 billion in malpractice payouts over 10 years. Three quarters of diagnostic error malpractice claims were attributable to just three categories of conditions: cancer (37.8 percent), vascular events (22.8 percent) and infection (13.5 percent), referred to as the “Big 3.”
Given the magnitude of diagnostic error burden, SIDM advocates for increased attention by health systems to improving the quality of their diagnostic process. This goes beyond avoiding errors and includes consideration of accuracy, timeliness, cost, and patient convenience. Designing an optimal diagnostic process will require a careful balancing among these competing demands. Given the dearth of solutions, we believe catalyzing a "bottom up" approach, whereby frontline health professionals and patients are engaged to develop and test plausible solutions, will most likely produce the best outcomes.