Coverys Community Healthcare Foundation Funds Innovative Projects to Improve Patient Safety


Diagnostic inaccuracy is an issue that we take very seriously at Coverys. Among our own insured providers, diagnosis-related events are the single largest common root cause of medical professional liability claims. On a national scale, it has been estimated that 10-20% of all diagnoses are inaccurate.

In 2018, Coverys Community Healthcare Foundation committed $3 million to fund development of new approaches for faster, more accurate patient diagnoses. The Foundation focused on innovative projects that utilize fresh perspectives, data-driven insights, and new ways of thinking about diagnosis. Close attention was paid to projects with significant potential to help improve outcomes for patients and their families.

After an overwhelming response to our request for proposals, the Foundation awarded grant funding to the following organizations and projects:

The Human Diagnosis Project
Large-scale improvement in diagnostic reasoning 

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine  
Video-oculography-based emergency room tele-consults to improve diagnostic outcomes — The V.E.R.T.I.G.O. Study

Medstar Health Research Institute     
Improving diagnostic accuracy for Hepatitis C with a validated teach/improve model

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science    
Development and testing of a new framework to improve diagnostic reasoning and accuracy in medical and health professionals

Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine
Exploring and addressing diagnostic error disparities related to cognitive reasoning pitfalls

Strategic Radiology LLC    
Improving diagnostic accuracy through improved communication to patients with incidental findings on ED medical imaging studies

University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences    
Identifying women at high risk of ovarian cancer

VisualDx    
Proposal to improve the diagnosis of cellulitis

Washington University School of Medicine Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology Interventional Radiology Section
Closing the loop for radiology follow-up recommendations

In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, the timeline for completion of the funded projects was extended. However, with new estimated completion dates, the majority of these projects will conclude in 2021. We are looking forward to releasing results of the project work to influence improved diagnostic accuracy and offer the opportunity to incorporate these efforts in care delivery in hospitals and healthcare organizations, in the educational curriculum of provider education, and in practice workflow.


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