New $4.5 Million Grant Program to Spur Innovation in Diagnostic Quality and Safety

EVANSTON, Ill., Sept. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) has been awarded a $4.5 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to launch the DxQI Seed Grant Program. The new program will engage healthcare organizations in efforts to identify, develop and test interventions aimed at improving diagnostic quality and reducing harm from diagnostic error.

SIDM will open the application process in January 2020 with decisions in the Spring. For the inaugural year, twenty grants of up to $50,000 each will be awarded. The program will support two additional annual grantee cohorts.

"SIDM's DxQI Seed Grant Program will stimulate innovation in the field of diagnostic quality, an area where practice improvement activity is lagging," said Paul Epner, CEO and co-founder of SIDM. "Through engaging health professionals in developing and testing promising approaches, the program will lay the groundwork for a multitude of strategies to improve diagnostic quality and safety and unleash the creativity of the healthcare community."

Inaccurate or delayed diagnosis is the most common, catastrophic, and costly type of medical error. According to recent research from Johns Hopkins University, 34 percent of all malpractice cases that result in death or permanent disability are caused by diagnostic errors with 74% of such cases stemming from one of three sources: cancer (38%), acute vascular events (23%), and infection (13%), collectively described as the "Big Three."

"Three clinical categories ? cardiovascular events, infections and cancers ? are responsible for a disproportionate share of serious harm and preventable death because of sub-optimal diagnosis. The Moore Foundation is excited to partner with SIDM on this initiative emphasizing diagnostic improvement for these conditions," said Daniel Yang, M.D., program officer for the Moore Foundation's Diagnostic Excellence Initiative. "We believe this investment in diagnostic excellence is timely and goes beyond avoiding errors, including consideration of cost, timeliness, accuracy, and patient experience. Designing an optimal quality improvement intervention will require a careful balancing among these competing demands."

Applicants to the program will be asked to identify the emphasis of their interventions and at least 50 percent of selected proposals will be focused on the "Big Three." SIDM will build a DxQI online community to support shared learning across sites and to receive real-time counsel from an Improvement Advisor.

Organizations interested in the DxQI Seed Grant Program may sign up on the SIDM website to receive notifications when the request for proposal is issued.

About the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM)
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. SIDM is the only organization focused solely on the problem of diagnostic error and improving the accuracy and timeliness of diagnosis. In 2015, SIDM established the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis, to increase awareness and actions that improve diagnosis. Members of the Coalition represent hundreds of thousands of healthcare providers and patients?and the leading health organizations and government agencies involved in patient care. Together, we work to find solutions that enhance diagnostic safety and quality, reduce harm, and ultimately, ensure better health outcomes for patients. Visit http://www.improvediagnosis.org to learn more. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit http://www.Moore.org or follow @MooreFound.

SOURCE Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine