Matt Nielsen, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Urology and director of quality for UNC Faculty Physicians, has been appointed to the National Quality Forum (NQF) Diagnostic Excellence Committee, under the NQF Advancing Measurement of Diagnostic Excellence for Better Healthcare Initiative.
In its report Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, the National Academy of Medicine states, “Improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, it also represents a moral, professional and public health imperative.” While much of the early attention and work in this field focused on avoiding diagnostic errors and their resulting harms, stakeholders, including the NQF, have advocated for a new emphasis and framing around the concept of diagnostic excellence. The NQF defines diagnostic excellence as “an optimal process to attain an accurate and precise explanation about a patient’s condition that would be timely, cost-effective, convenient, and understandable to the patient.”
Nielsen’s contributions at UNC-Chapel Hill have been recognized with the H. Fleming Fuller Award in 2022 and the UNC Friend of Nursing Award in 2017. Outside of the University, he serves as Chair of the American Urological Association (AUA) Science and Quality Council. He has contributed to efforts related to physician performance measurement with AUA and as a member of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Technical Expert Panel for the Quality Measure Development Plan and the American College of Physicians’ Performance Measurement Committee.
