Leapfrog Group will measure US hospitals on diagnostic performance in 2024
The Leapfrog Group will add a section to its annual survey in 2024 asking US hospitals to report their progress on evidence-based practices designed to prevent and reduce patient injury and death from diagnostic error and delay.
This Autumn, Leapfrog will pilot test survey questions about a range of diagnostic practices from holding leaders accountable for diagnostic safety to openly communicating diagnostic errors to patients and optimising electronic records to support accurate and timely diagnosis.
Results of the Leapfrog Hospital Survey — completed voluntarily each year by more than 2,300 U.S. hospitals — rate participants’ progress toward Leapfrog’s standards for safety, quality and transparency and are publicly reported. Since 2000, the survey has been the centerpiece of Leapfrog’s mission to “support informed health care decisions and promote high-value care.” The results are also used by hospitals to benchmark their performance to others in the industry.
The addition to the survery is part of a larger push to reduce harm caused by diagnostic error.
Leapfrog is working with the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) on a multi-year project called “Recognizing Excellence in Diagnosis.”
Mark L. Graber, SIDM’s Founder and President Emeritus, expects that including diagnosis in the survey will elevate organizations’ interest in addressing diagnostic error. “Healthcare organizations need to address the harm arising from diagnostic error in their own hospitals.” says Dr. Graber. “The new Leapfrog report gives them ideas on where to start.”
Source: Betsey Lehman Center, 14 September 2022