Studying the relationship between diagnostic knowledge and diagnostic error prone outcomes
ABIM researchers and external researchers are investigating the association between performance on diagnostic related questions on ABIM’s Internal Medicine MOC exam and 90 day risk of adverse outcomes for treated Medicare patients after an outpatient visit at risk for diagnostic knowledge. These outpatient visits were for new problems at risk for 13 acute outcomes identified as being at risk for diagnostic error. Regressions used to measure associations accounted for such things as treatment related question performance, Medicare HCC risk adjustors, and 20 chronic condition indicators as well as a variety of patient characteristics (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, Medicaid dual eligibility). The study has been submitted for presentation at a leading diagnostic error conference.