The Council of Specialty Medical Societies (C

NEW YORK, NY – (September 29, 2022) – The Council of Specialty Medical Societies (CMSS), a coalition of 48 specialty societies representing more than 800,000 healthcare physicians, has awarded 11 member specialty societies grants of $100,000 each to promote diagnostic excellence in medicine. The American Chest Society is one of the scholarship recipients.

This grant program will fund a wide range of projects to support the development and dissemination of resources and programs aimed at improving the timeliness, accuracy, safety, efficiency, patient-centeredness, and equity of health outcomes. diagnosis for patients in the United States. The awards include several projects focused on three categories of conditions known to cause a disproportionate share of preventable harm from suboptimal diagnosis, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and infections.

These awards are the result of a competitive grants program administered by CMSS and funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in the amount of $1.26 million for medical specialty societies to support the development of resources and of programs to promote the subject of diagnostic excellence to the clinician public. . Additionally, the John A. Hartford Foundation, which promotes age-friendly care, is contributing half the funding to support two of the selected winning projects that focus on seniors. The proposals were reviewed by an external advisory committee comprised of a diverse group of national experts in diagnostic excellence and patient safety, clinician education, quality improvement and research.

CMSS is pleased to announce the following funded grants:

• American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) – Penicillin Allergy Testing to Improve and Expand Necessary Treatment Program (PATIENT)
• American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) – First Initiative for Diagnostic Excellence in Ophthalmology
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) – Improving Diagnostic Excellence in Ambulatory Pediatrics: The Pediatric Quality Minute Series
• American College of Physicians (ACP) – Promoting Health Equity Through Excellence in Diagnostic Decision-Making
• American College of Surgeons (ACS)* – Diagnostic Excellence in Dementia and Cognitive Impairment in a Surgical Setting
• American Psychiatric Association (APA) – Promoting diagnostic excellence in eating disorders
• American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)* – Perioperative Diagnostic Excellence for the Elderly: An Educational Initiative
• American Thoracic Society (ATS) – Scaling ICU-PAUSE for diagnostic excellence and equity: A cross-society collaboration of intensivists and hospitalists to improve patient safety during care transitions
• College of American Pathologists (CAP) – Toward Patient-Centered Pathology Reporting: A Mixed-Methods Study of Diagnostic Excellence
• Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) – Using Education and Technology for Accurate and Rapid Cycle Sepsis Diagnoses: Creating an Equitable, Quality-Based Diagnostic Excellence Program
• Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) – Crowdsourcing to develop an educational intervention on the diagnostic process: special focus on mitigating racial disparities in the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome

*Recipients of joint awards from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the John A. Hartford Foundation

Specialty medical societies are well placed to educate and disseminate effective strategies that advance diagnostic excellence among their members through educational programs, including accredited CME, peer-reviewed journals, clinical guidelines, research and clinical records.

In addition to selecting and awarding grants to individual societies, the CMSS will serve as a coordinating center to monitor and promote learning, improvement, collaboration and the identification of best practices in diagnostic excellence. that can be shared with the entire medical community. .

“Physicians look to their specialty societies for programs and resources that shape practice and drive improved safety, quality and equity,” said Helen Burstin, MD, MPH, MACP, CEO of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies. “We are very pleased to help the winners engage physicians in diagnostic excellence throughout the house of medicine.”

“ATS is extremely grateful to CMSS for this grant which will help support our efforts to reduce implicit bias as well as diagnostic uncertainty in the transition from ICU to service,” said ATS CEO Karen J. Collishaw, MPP, CAE. “We look forward to providing our care partners with additional tools to fill gaps in existing systems.”

Media contacts:
American Thoracic Society: Dacia Morris, Director, [email protected]
CMSS: Julia Peterson, Operations Manager, [email protected]
Moore Foundation: Caitlin Cobb, Communications Officer, [email protected]
The John A. Hartford Foundation: Marcus Escobedo, Vice President, Communications and Senior Program Officer, [email protected]

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