Accurate, timely diagnosis of child physical abuse is key to preventing repeated and escalating abuse—however, nearly 1 in 3 young children diagnosed with an abusive injury had prior medical visits during which there was a missed opportunity to diagnose abuse and to intervene to protect the child from further harm.

This solutions-focused Evidence to Action brief reviews data on disparities in child abuse evaluation in hospital settings, reports the results of efforts to address this critical issue, and proposes recommendations to improve evaluations for child physical abuse, decrease disparities and protect children who have been abused from further harm.