The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) to improve diagnostic excellence in interstitial lung disease (ILD).
The project, dubbed, "How We Do It: CHEST Experts Weigh In," is designed to inform future best practices in reducing the time to diagnosis for ILDs. Specifically, it will improve the process of defining symptoms and patient profiles associated with ILD, increase awareness in health inequities that may assist in the diagnosis of ILD, identify key diagnostic and coordinate the next steps in the process, including how to document and when and where to refer.
The goal of the grant is to reach more than 100,000 health care workers and evaluate and measure the impact of additional education and more timely diagnosis on patient care and outcomes.
About 400,000 people in the United State are diagnosed with ILDs, which causes lung inflammation and/or permanent scarring. A prompt, accurate diagnosis is key to avoiding a misdiagnosis and prescribing medications to slow the irreversible progression of the disease.
The project is an extension of the CHEST initiative, Bridging Specialties™: Timely Diagnosis for ILD, which highlighted the need for bringing together pulmonary and primary care medicine experts to shorten the time to diagnosis for ILD.
