PFPS US backs bipartisan bill to cut medical misdiagnosis

Patients for Patient Safety US is backing new bipartisan, bicameral legislation introduced in Congress to reduce diagnostic errors and give patients a way to report them. Supporters say the bill could prevent permanent harm, deaths and wasted health care spending by improving diagnosis across the system.

Why it matters: - Diagnostic error can lead to misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, permanent disability and death. - Recent research published in March 2025 estimates that more than 900,000 Americans a year suffer permanent harm or death because of diagnostic error. - PFPS US says the bill could save lives, prevent disabilities and reduce costs for patients, families and taxpayers. - The legislation also aims to give patients and families a stronger role in reporting diagnostic problems.

What happened: - Patients for Patient Safety US applauded the introduction of the Saving Lives and Reducing Health Care Waste by Improving Diagnosis in Medicine Act. - U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., introduced the bipartisan, bicameral bill yesterday with U.S. Representatives Don Beyer, D-Va., Kim Schrier, D-Wash., and Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J. - PFPS US said the lawmakers are taking on a major health care problem that often gets overlooked. - The text of the bill is available here and the sponsors’ press release is available here.

The details: - The bill would authorize a federal grant program to create and maintain Research Centers of Diagnostic Excellence. - Those centers would advance research on diagnostic quality, safety and value in health care. - The bill would require the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to develop a strategic plan to modernize federal systems for voluntary patient and family reporting of diagnostic error experiences. - The bill would establish an Interagency Council on Improving Diagnosis in Health Care. - The council would work to improve the quality, appropriateness and effectiveness of diagnosis in health care. - The council would also identify and remove systemic barriers to research on better diagnosis. - The council would identify knowledge gaps, research needs, data needs and policy changes to strengthen the clinical and translational research pipeline for diagnostic safety and quality. - PFPS US President and CEO Sue Sheridan said diagnostic errors are the most common, most costly and most catastrophic of serious medical errors. - Sheridan said causes include poor communication between providers, patients and families, no metrics to measure performance, limited feedback to clinicians and system failures such as lost test results. - Sheridan said much of the research so far has focused on defining the size of the problem, while the new legislation moves toward solutions. - Martin J. Hatlie, director for policy and advocacy at PFPS US, said patients and families are often first to know when a diagnosis has gone wrong. - Hatlie said the current health care system has had no reliable way to hear from patients and families about those experiences.

Between the lines: - The bill reflects a shift from diagnosing the scope of medical misdiagnosis to building systems that can detect, report and reduce it. - The patient-reporting piece suggests lawmakers are trying to make diagnosis improvement less provider-centric and more centered on lived experience. - The bipartisan, bicameral lineup signals an effort to frame diagnostic safety as a broad health system issue rather than a partisan one.

What's next: - PFPS US said it looks forward to the bill moving through the legislative process and becoming law. - Hatlie urged Congress to move the bipartisan bill forward without delay. - If enacted, the legislation would create federal structures for research, coordination and patient reporting on diagnostic error.

The bottom line: - The bill aims to turn diagnostic error from an underreported safety problem into a measurable federal priority with new research, coordination and patient input.