International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

The Patient Voice Is In: Building Systems of Diagnostic Care That Listen and Learn; A Response to Recent Commentaries

Articles in Press

Document Type : Correspondence

Authors
Kathryn M. McDonald 1, 2
Kelly T. Gleason 1
Anushka Jajodia 1
Helen Haskell 3
Vadim Dukhanin 4
1 School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
2 Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
3 Mothers Against Medical Error, Columbia, SC, USA
4 Department of Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Keywords
Patient-Centered
Patient Safety
Patient-Reported Measures (PRMs)
Health Systems
Diagnostic Quality
Roadmaps

The thoughtful commentaries by Schmidt and Riposo, Cosby, Chen et al, and Ranji and Rosner on “Achieving Diagnostic Excellence: Roadmaps to Develop and Use Patient-Reported Measures With an Equity Lens” (Roadmaps article) contribute important perspectives on incorporating patient voice in improving diagnosis for all.1 ...(Read more...)

1.     McDonald KM, Gleason KT, Jajodia A, Haskell H, Dukhanin V. Achieving diagnostic excellence: roadmaps to develop and use patient-reported measures with an equity lens. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2024;13:8048. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8048
2.     Dukhanin V, Gamper MJ, Gleason KT, McDonald KM. Patient-reported outcome and experience domains for diagnostic excellence: a scoping review to inform future measure development. Qual Life Res. 2024;33(11):2883-2897. doi:10.1007/s11136-024-03709-w
3.     Dukhanin V. Patient-reported measurement opportunities of diagnostic excellence: from whom, what, when, and where. J Patient Saf Risk Manag. 2025;30(3). doi:10.1177/25160435251341056
4.     Ranji SR, Rosner BI. 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." Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:8973. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8973
5.     Chen A, Tchitcherin O, Väyrynen K, Torkki P, Heinonen S, Tekay A. Achieving diagnostic excellence in prenatal diagnosis through patient-reported measures: Comment on "Achieving diagnostic excellence: roadmaps to develop and use patient-reported measures with an equity lens." Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:8921. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8921
6.     Schmidt T, Riposo J. Prioritizing the journey and the destination: Comment on "Achieving diagnostic excellence: roadmaps to develop and use patient-reported measures with an equity lens." Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:8907. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8907
7.     Gleason KT, Dukhanin V, Peterson SK, Gonzalez N, Austin JM, McDonald KM. Development and psychometric analysis of a patient-reported measure of diagnostic excellence for emergency and urgent care settings. J Patient Saf. 2024;20(7):498-504. doi:10.1097/PTS.0000000000001271
8.     Dukhanin V, McDonald KM, Kuhn D, Heinert SW, Wood EB, Gleason KT. Patient-reported diagnostic excellence in emergency care: cross-site score variation and purpose-dependent interpretation. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2026;52(7):313-315. doi:10.1016/j.jcjq.2026.03.013
9.     Fiol-deRoque MA, Valderas JM, Arias de la Torre J, et al. Evaluation of the psychometric performance of the Spanish and Catalan versions of the patient reported experiences and Outcomes of Safety in Primary Care (PREOS-PC)-Compact questionnaire. Eur J Gen Pract. 2024;30(1):2296573. doi:10.1080/13814788.2023.2296573
10. Health Design Studio. The D-Dec Project: Designing Discharge after Emergency Care (D.DEC). 2024. https://www.healthdesignstudio.ca/covidbuttons-454708.html. Accessed July 22, 2026.
11. Price RA, Berdahl CT, Bradley MA, et al. Developing Patient-Reported Outcome Measures of Timely Experience of Diagnosis (PROMOTE-Dx) for Cancer: Survey and Quality Measure Development Report. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation; 2026. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA4700/RRA4708-1/RAND_RRA4708-1.pdf. Accessed July 22, 2026.
12. Dubeau A, El Balqui M, Talbot D, et al. Validation of PREM-PS, a patient-reported experience instrument, in a randomized controlled trial of pregnant women undergoing prenatal screening. J Patient Rep Outcomes. 2026;10:59. doi:10.1186/s41687-026-01020-5
13. Patel R, Bontempo AC. The Active-Empathic Listening Scale (AELS): Conceptualization and evidence of validity within the healthcare context. Patient Educ Couns. 2026;150:109735. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2026.109735
14. McDonald KM, Gleason KT, Grob RN, et al. Exploring sociodemographic disparities in diagnostic problems and mistakes in the quest for diagnostic equity: insights from a national survey of patient experiences. Front Public Health. 2025;13:1444005. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1444005
15. Bell SK, Dong ZJ, Desroches CM, et al. Partnering with patients and families living with chronic conditions to coproduce diagnostic safety through OurDX: a previsit online engagement tool. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2023;30(4):692-702. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocad003
16. Giardina TD, Vaghani V, Upadhyay DK, et al. Charting diagnostic safety: exploring patient-provider discordance in medical record documentation. J Gen Intern Med. 2025;40(4):773-781. doi:10.1007/s11606-024-09007-y
17. Cosby KS. Evolving a healthcare system with a coordinated approach for patient-reported measurement of diagnostic quality: Comment on "Achieving diagnostic excellence: roadmaps to develop and use patient-reported measures with an equity lens." Int J Health Policy Manag. 2025;14:8905. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.8905
18. National Quality Forum (NQF). Diagnostic Excellence Measurement Challenges and Recommended Solutions. Washington, DC: NQF; 2026. https://digitalassets.jointcommission.org/api/public/content/843c7bf0a3fd4f2ab1f3a3d5ef9b6ada?v=d6fd7fe6. Accessed July 30, 2026.
19. McDonald KM, Bryce CL, Graber ML. The patient is in: patient involvement strategies for diagnostic error mitigation. BMJ Qual Saf. 2013;22(Suppl 2):ii33-ii39. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001623
 
International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 25 August 2026

  • Received Date 25 July 2026
  • Accepted Date 04 August 2026
  • First Published Date 25 August 2026
  • Published Date 25 August 2026