The Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), a coalition of 51 specialty societies representing more than 800,000 physicians across health care, awarded the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and 10 other member specialty societies grants of $100,000 each to promote diagnostic excellence across the field of medicine. In addition to the selection and provision of grants to individual societies, CMSS will serve as a coordinating center to monitor and promote cross-specialty learning, improvement, collaboration, and identification of best practices in diagnostic excellence that can be shared with the broader medical community.
In 2022, CMSS and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to the College of American Pathologists that focused on understanding patients’ experience with their pathology report. This second grant addresses the challenge of redesigning a pathology report that effectively communicates pathology test results to patients and all members of the care team.
The goals of the new grant will have a focus on colorectal cancer pathology reports, but generally will be to:
· Gain insight from multiple stakeholders on the critical components of a pathology report
· Recommend ways to improve communication of test results through pathology reports.
· Disseminate best practices through education and engagement, including potential publications and podcasts.
“The possibility exists that one pathology report does not serve all audiences. For example, the testing results information in a pathology report that the oncologist needs may not be in language or format meaningful to patients. If there are multiple care teams, additional teams may also want different information or a focus on specific aspects of the pathology report,” said CAP President Donald S. Karcher, MD, FCAP. “This project seeks to understand the needs of patients and the whole care team to assist them in timely and accurate diagnosis and treatment. During the grant cycle, we look forward to engaging potential stakeholders including but not limited to pathologists, gastroenterologists, endoscopists, oncologists, radiation oncologists, informaticists, and patients.”
These awards are the result of a competitive grant program administered by CMSS and funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for medical specialty societies to support the development of resources and programs to promote the topic of diagnostic excellence for clinician audiences. 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.