Between 5 and 15 percent of health care encounters result in a diagnosis error. While misdiagnoses and missed diagnoses can have devastating effects on patients and even result in death, the issue does not receive much attention from health care providers and policy leaders as the major quality and safety issue that it deserves to be. A new brief from the Urban Institute explores the different reasons for diagnosis errors, the challenges of measuring them, and fruitful approaches to reducing their prevalence and harm to patients. The brief offers recommendations for policy-makers on how they can place the issue on the policy agenda.

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