CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
Charles Fiegl
August 2015—The Institute of Medicine is expected to release in September a consensus study on diagnostic error in health care that will offer recommendations for policymakers, payers, medical institutions, physicians, and patients aimed at preventing harmful mistakes. This will come after nearly two years of studying the U.S. health system and reviewing the perspectives of stakeholders such as the CAP.
The CAP believes the IOM effort is of value in reducing the risk of error and welcomes the upcoming release of the “Diagnostic Error in Health Care” report, says CAP president Gene N. Herbek, MD. “As the largest and most experienced organization in medical laboratory performance, the College has led and enhanced laboratory improvement programs such as proficiency testing and accreditation for more than 65 years. We are looking forward to the publication of the study and discussing its findings with CAP members as well as making known our views on the findings and recommendations that are made.”
The CAP hopes to host a forum to discuss the IOM report at the CAP ’15 meeting in Nashville, Tenn., in October.
The IOM has a history of studying the issue of errors throughout the health care system, and its reports are well known among health policy experts and the physician community. The landmark 1999 IOM report, “To Err Is Human,” greatly influenced efforts to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors. The IOM’s 2001 report, “Crossing the Quality Chasm,” urged the alignment of payment policies and quality improvement.
For this new report, the IOM committee that was assigned the task of researching and writing the report will evaluate what is known about diagnostic error as a quality-of-care challenge. “The committee will examine current definitions of diagnostic error and illustrative examples; the epidemiology, burden of harm, and costs associated with diagnostic error; and current efforts to improve diagnosis,” the IOM says on its website.
The CAP is listed on the IOM website as an activity sponsor for the report, along with the American Society for Clinical Pathology, American College of Radiology, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Cautious Patient Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Doctors Company Foundation, Janet and Barry Lang, Kaiser Permanente National Community Benefit Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Two of the 21 committee members are CAP members: Michael B. Cohen, MD, and Michael Laposata, MD, PhD. The IOM study committee has held six meetings since April 2014.
The report is expected to review errors that occur in the preanalytic, analytic, and postanalytic phases of the laboratory and pathology testing process.