Background: Diagnostic errors (DEs) are common and can lead to preventable harm in hospitalized patients.[1] To address this problem as part of our AHRQ-funded Patient Safety Learning Laboratory, we characterized diagnostic process failures that contribute to DEs.[2,3] Next, we refined three interventions (Figure 1) that addressed common process failures and were embedded into our electronic [...]

Background: Patient portals are a digital health technology that help caregivers engage with their child’s healthcare. Unfortunately, significant disparities in portal use exist, with caregivers who speak languages other than English (LOE) having lower usage rates compared with their English-speaking counterparts. No pediatric study has sought to understand why and how LOE caregivers use patient [...]

Background: Diagnostic error in acute care represents an unresolved safety issue: error rates range from 4.8 to 49.8%. If the diagnosis is delayed or incorrect, the patient may not get correct treatment in a timely manner. Underlying contributing factors include system flaws (e.g., communication barriers) and cognitive errors (e.g., anchoring), factors that are often overlooked [...]

Background: In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, venture capital investment in digital health increased rapidly. Beginning in March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a seismic shift toward asynchronous, remote care delivery to replace in-person care buttressed by passage of the Public Health Emergency Act which established payment parity between in-person [...]

Background: Patient portals are intended to engage caregivers with their child’s healthcare by allowing them to read clinical notes, access test results, make appointments, and message providers, and they are often used during hospitalization. While patient portals typically offer multiple language options, the extent to which medical information is translated remains limited. Understanding how caregivers [...]

Background: The current process of transitioning to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) is non-transparent and inefficient. For patients and caregivers, the process is stressful and confusing. For the providers and the hospital, it could result in lower patient satisfaction and increase patient length of stay. For SNF administrators, it often causes a mismatch of patient [...]

Background: Sub-optimal discharge preparation during hospitalization may adversely impact safety and lead to a poor patient experience. As part of an AHRQ-funded study, we designed and developed interactive digital health tools (Figure 1) to engage patients and caregivers in self-assessing discharge preparedness: an educational video and 16-item discharge checklist addressing 4 domains (understanding the plan, [...]

Background: Adverse events (AE) are common during care transitions (19-28%) in patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCC) and often lead to unanticipated healthcare resource utilization after discharge. While early indicators of these AEs include new and worsening symptoms, systematic monitoring of patient-reported symptoms is lacking. The 21st Century Cures Act mandates the healthcare industry to [...]

Background: Consumer satisfaction is largely dependent on convenience, efficiency, and quality, and healthcare is no outlier. Technological advancements, such as the use of artificial intelligence or virtual visit appointments, is emerging as a new form of healthcare provided. While these technologies have existed far before the COVID-19 pandemic, it has expedited the mass population’s acclimation [...]

Background: Adverse events (AEs) occur in 19-28% of patients after discharge and can lead to unanticipated events, including emergency room visits and readmissions.(1,2) While early indicators include new and worsening symptoms (NWS), monitoring of patient-reported NWS is lacking. The 21st Century Cures Act mandates adoption of application programming interfaces (APIs), offering the potential to engage [...]