Medical Malpractice Analysis in Radiation Oncology: A Decade of Results From a National Comparative Benchmarking System

Supported by CRICO funding, 25 primary care practices, from July 2014-June 2016, worked to improve colorectal cancer screening and diagnosis. Called the Academic Innovations Collaborative Comprehensive, Accessible, Reliable, Exceptional and Safe (CARES) Initiative, the collaboration was built on the foundation of team-based care to improve patient safety in participating practice sites and systems by reducing missed and delayed diagnosis of cancer and reducing preventable harm for patients with complex care needs.

Using data from the Candello, CRICO patient safety experts Kathy Dwyer, Winnie Yu, and Courtney DeRoo collaborated with researchers from Harvard Radiation Oncology Program and the Department of Radiation Oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute to study the characteristics of radiation oncology malpractice cases and identify opportunities to decrease patient harm.

CRICO data analysts and researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center collaborated to characterize the factors in liability cases involving breast cancer surgery. They used data from Candello's national repository (formerly called CBS database) to identify areas for quality improvement.