Co-production of Diagnostic Excellence – Patients, Clinicians, and Artificial Intelligence; Comment on “Achieving Diagnostic Excellence: Roadmaps to Develop and Use Patient-Reported Measures With an Equity Lens”

Document Type : Commentary

Authors

1 Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, CA, USA

2 Division of Clinical Informatics and Digital Transformation, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

3 Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

Abstract

Patients often experience long journeys within the healthcare system before obtaining a diagnosis. Though progress has been made in measuring the quality of diagnosis, existing measures largely fail to capture the diagnostic process from the patient’s perspective. McDonald and colleagues’ paper presents 7 overarching goals for the use of patientreported measures (PRMs) in diagnostic excellence and presents visual roadmaps to guide the development, implementation, and evaluation of these measures. To accelerate the real-world use of PRMs, organizations should initially prioritize the use of patient-reported metrics that are already in development, such as patient-reported experience measures. Pairing PRMs with artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, such as “diagnostic wayfinding” (a dynamic diagnostic refinement process that also includes analysis of electronic health record data and metadata to characterize the diagnostic journey), should also improve diagnostic performance. Ultimately, combining PRMs with technological advancements holds the potential to achieve true co-production of diagnostic excellence. 

Keywords


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Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 19 May 2025
  • Received Date: 31 December 2024
  • Revised Date: 14 May 2025
  • Accepted Date: 18 May 2025
  • First Published Date: 19 May 2025