North Charlotte Today

Atrium Health Care recently issued the following announcement.

Atrium Health Levine Children’s was one of 17 organizations awarded a grant by The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) as part of its DxQI Seed Grant Program to improve the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of diagnoses. SIDM awarded Levine Children’s $50,000 to support testing an intervention designed to improve diagnosis of rheumatologic conditions in children from disadvantaged communities.

Inaccurate and delayed diagnoses are the most common, catastrophic, and costly of medical errors according to an analysis published in BMJ Quality & Safety. It is estimated that 12 million adults in the United States experience a diagnostic error every year in outpatient settings alone, and diagnosis failures result in as many as 80,000 premature deaths every year in U.S. hospitals.

Given limited resources, patients from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are vulnerable to the challenges – and resulting consequences – of delayed diagnosis and access to subspecialist care. Even under the best circumstances, frustrated families unable to access a specialist waste precious time, money, and resources seeking solutions via the wrong treatment. This often means making multiple trips to care providers for pain, and receiving costly, dangerous, and ineffective prescriptions. This project will focus on improving the referral process, from recognition to placement at Levine Children’s Rheumatology clinic, for patients and practices from areas designated as low socioeconomic status and with the biggest social disparities gap. 

 “We are eager to work towards improving diagnosis of rheumatologic conditions in this vulnerable population of children.” said Sheetal S. Vora, MD, associate professor of rheumatology at Atrium Health Levine Children’s. “Diagnostic error is a significant problem that the healthcare community needs to address, and we are proud to be part of a cohort developing specific strategies to improve the accuracy and timeliness of diagnosis. This is just one of many continuing efforts to improve patient care at Levine Children’s.”

The DxQI grantees will identify and implement small, practical tests of change, and begin building evidence supporting interventions. If replicated and spread across other hospitals and health systems, these interventions have the potential to improve diagnosis. During the three-year program, SIDM will annually release a report about interventions that were effective and those that require further research and funding. The goal is to share the learnings with the broader healthcare community in the months and years to come.

“There are very few proven real-world solutions to minimize the harm diagnostic errors can cause,” said Gerard M. Castro, PhD, MPH, PMP, Director of Quality Improvement, SIDM. “The DxQI grants awarded through the program are a first step in learning what best practices we can build into the diagnostic process to ensure that patients receive a diagnosis that is accurate, determined in a timely manner, and effectively communicated.”

Ultimately, the Seed Grant program will help clinicians, hospitals and health systems take specific steps to reduce diagnostic errors by building an evidence base of effective interventions. Once tested, SIDM will create a clearinghouse of the interventions and be a catalyst for the adoption of effective practices by other organizations across the country.

“A diagnostic error isn’t just about the clinician—it’s about the complete care delivery process and includes all members of the healthcare team, including patients, which is why we sought to award grantees who recognize all of these important voices,” said Doug Salvador, MD, MPH, Chief Quality Officer at Baystate Health and Chair of the DxQI Seed Grant Review Committee. “Solutions to diagnostic questions are important now more than ever. COVID-19 put a spotlight on getting the diagnosis right as quickly as possible and the consequences of failure to the patient, their families, and the entire fabric of society.”

The DxQI Seed Grant Program is an initiative of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The next grant application period opens in January 2021. Organizations can learn more at ImproveDiagnosis.org/dxqi/.

Original source can be found here.