Articles of Interest

December 16, 2005

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This weekly compilation of articles appearing in recently released journals and newsletters includes: articles funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) or authored by AHRQ researchers; articles mentioning or discussing AHRQ staff, activities, and publications/products; articles related to AHRQ-funded Evidence-based Practice Centers; articles related to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force or Put Prevention into Practice program; articles mentioning the National Healthcare Disparities Report and National Healthcare Quality Report and other research using AHRQ data or products.

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AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles

Archives of Internal Medicine
Goitein L, Shanafelt TD, Wipf JE, et al. The effects of work-hour limitations on resident well-being, patient care, and education in an internal medicine residency program. Arch Intern Med 2005 Dec 12-26; 165(22):2601-6. [Supported by National Research Service Award training grant to first author, no grant number available.]

Health Services Research
Galbraith AA, Wong ST, Kim SE, et al. Out-of-pocket financial burden for low-income families with children: socioeconomic disparities and effects of insurance. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1722-36. [Supported by Grant No. R01 HS11662-01A1.]

Finkelstein JA, Lozano P, Fuhlbrigge AL, et al. Practice-level effects of interventions to improve asthma care in primary care settings: the Pediatric Asthma Care Patient Outcomes Research Team. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1737-57. [Supported by Grant No. HS08368.]

Seid M, Stevens GD. Access to care and children's primary care experiences: results from a prospective cohort study. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1758-80. [Supported by Grant No. R01 HS10317.]

Evenhouse E, Reilly S. Improved estimates of the benefits of breastfeeding using sibling comparisons to reduce selection bias. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1781-802. [Supported by Grant No. 5 T32 HS00086.]

Rosenthal MB, Zaslavsky A, Newhouse JP. The geographic distribution of physicians revisited. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1931-52. [Supported by Grant No. 5 P01 HS10803.]

Darby C, Hays RD, Kletke P. Development and evaluation of the CAHPS® Hospital Survey. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):1973-6. [First author is researcher in AHRQ's Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety; introduces special issue on development and testing of AHRQ's Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Hospital Survey (H-CAHPS).]

Goldstein E, Farquhar M, Crofton C, Darby C, et al. Measuring hospital care from the patients perspective: an overview of the CAHPS® Hospital Survey development process. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):1977-95. [Second through fourth authors are researchers in AHRQ's Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.]

Castle NG, Brown J, Hepner KA, et al. Review of the literature on survey instruments used to collect data on hospital patients' perceptions of care. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):1996-2017. [Supported by Grant No. 5 U18 HS000924.]

Sofaer S, Crofton C, Goldstein E, et al. What do consumers want to know about the quality of care in hospitals? Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):2018-36. [Second author is researcher in AHRQ's Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.]

Levine RE, Fowler FJ Jr, Brown JA. Role of cognitive testing in the development of the CAHPS® Hospital Survey. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):2037-56. [Supported by Grant No. 2 U18 HS09204-07.]

Keller S, O'Malley AJ, Hays RD, et al. Methods used to streamline the CAHPS® Hospital Survey. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):2057-77. [Supported by Grant No. 5 U18 HS000924.]

OMalley AJ, Zaslavsky AM, Hays RD, et al. Exploratory factor analyses of the CAHPS® Hospital pilot survey across and within medical, surgical, and obstetric services. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):2078-95. [Supported by Grant No. 5 U18 HS000924.]

Elliott MN, Edwards C, Angeles J, et al. Patterns of unit and item nonresponse in the CAHPS® Hospital Survey. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):2096-119. [Supported by Grant No. 5 U18 HS000924.]

de Vries H [Vries H in PubMed®.], Elliott MN, Hepner KA, et al. Equivalence of mail and telephone responses to the CAHPS® Hospital Survey. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):2120-39. [Supported by Grant No. 5 U18 HS000924.]

Hurtado MP, Angeles J, Blahut SA, et al. Assessment of the equivalence of the Spanish and English versions of the CAHPS® Hospital Survey on the quality of inpatient care. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):2140-61. [Supported by Grant No. 2 U18 HS09204-07.]

OMalley AJ, Zaslavsky AM, Elliott MN, et al. Case-mix adjustment of the CAHPS® Hospital Survey. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 2):2162-81. [Supported by Grant No. 5 U18 HS000924.]

JAMA
Longo DR, Hewett JE, Ge B, et al. The long road to patient safety: a status report on patient safety systems. JAMA 2005 Dec 14; 294(22):2858-65. [Supported by Grant No. HS11885.]

Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
Yost KJ, Cella D, Chawla A, et al. Minimally important differences were estimated for the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Colorectal (FACT-C) instrument using a combination of distribution- and anchor-based approaches. J Clin Epidemiol 2005 Dec; 58(12):1241-51. [Supported by Grant No. R01 HS09869.]

Singh-Manoux A, Marmot M. High blood pressure was associated with cognitive function in middle-age in the Whitehall II study. J Clin Epidemiol 2005 Dec; 58(12):1308-15. [Whitehall II study supported by Grant No. HS06516.]

Pediatrics
Hobgood C, Tamayo-Sarver JH, Elms A, et al. Parental preferences for error disclosure, reporting, and legal action after medical error in the care of their children. Pediatrics 2005 Dec; 116(6):1276-86. [Supported by Grant No. HS00059-06.]

Flores G, Abreu M, Chaisson CE, et al. A randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of community-based case management in insuring uninsured Latino children. Pediatrics 2005 Dec; 116(6):1433-41. [Supported by Grant No. K02 HS11305-01.]

AHRQ-Related Articles

American Health Line
Medical errors: hospitals have not taken steps to address issue. Am Health Line 2005 Dec 14; #8. [Reviews study by Longo, et al. (JAMA, 2005), cited in AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles.]

Medicare: medication as effective as surgery in treating acid reflux. Am Health Line 2005 Dec 15; #17. [Reviews AHRQ report, Comparative Effectiveness of Management Strategies for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, the first comparative effectiveness review under AHRQ's new Effective Health Care Program; quotes remarks by AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy from AHRQ press release.]

Archives of Internal Medicine
Jagsi R, Kitch BT, Weinstein DF, et al. Residents report on adverse events and their causes. Arch Intern Med 2005 Dec 12-26; 165(22):2607-13. [Cites AHRQ-funded articles by Thomas, et al. (Med Care, 2000), Landrigan, et al. (N Engl J Med, 2004), Lockley, et al. (N Engl J Med, 2004), Classen, et al. (JAMA, 1991), Rogers, et al. (Health Aff, 2004), Localio, et al. (Ann Intern Med, 1996), and Barger, et al. (N Engl J Med, 2005).]

Clinical Trials Advisor
Experts: make informed consent process more understandable to subjects. Clin Trials Advisor 2005 Dec 15; 10(24). [Quotes remarks by Cindy Brach, researcher in AHRQ's Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets.]

CQ HealthBeat
Reichard J. First finding of landmark program to get better value for Medicare: drugs as good as surgery for GERD. CQ HealthBeat 2005 Dec 14. [Reviews AHRQ report, Comparative Effectiveness of Management Strategies for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, the first comparative effectiveness review under AHRQ's new Effective Health Care Program, authorized by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2005; quotes remarks by AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy at press conference.]

Health Services Research
Fennell ML. Racial disparities in care: looking beyond the clinical encounter. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1713-21. [Cites AHRQ-authored article by Brach, Frazer (researcher in and director of AHRQ's Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets, respectively), and Paez (Health Aff, 2005), and AHRQ-funded articles by Fennell, et al. (Am J Med Qual, 2000) and Mor, et al. (Milbank Q, 2004).]

Thompson W, Wang H, Xie M, et al. Assessing quality of diabetes care by measuring longitudinal changes in hemoglobin A1c in the Veterans Health Administration. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1818-35. [Cites AHRQ-funded article by Deyo, et al. (J Clin Epidemiol, 1992).]

Berlowitz DR, Ash AS, Glickman M, et al. Developing a quality measure for clinical inertia in diabetes care. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1836-53. [Cites AHRQ-funded article by Deyo, et al. (J Clin Epidemiol, 1992).]

OConnor PJ. Commentary—improving diabetes care by combating clinical inertia. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1854-61. [Cites AHRQ-funded article by Tierney, et al. (J Gen Intern Med, 2003).]

White C, Seagrave S. What happens when hospital-based skilled nursing facilities close? A propensity score analysis. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1883-97. [Cites AHRQ publication, AHRQ Quality Indicators—Guide to Prevention Quality Indicators: Hospital Admission for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions, 2001.]

Foster EM, Xuan F. An episode-based framework for analyzing health care expenditures: an application of reward renewal models. Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1953-71. [Cites AHRQ-funded article by Bondy, et al. (Pediatrics, 2000.]

Modern Healthcare
Conn J. Getting satisfaction. The CMS survey publicly revealing patient satisfaction with hospitals is one step closer to becoming a reality. Mod Healthc 2005 Dec 12; 35(50):6-7, 13. [Describes and reviews development of AHRQ's H-CAHPS® survey instrument.]

Pink Sheet
Private comparative effectiveness arbiter could deter Congressional action. Pink Sheet 2005 Dec 12; 67(50):14-5. [Cites the comparative effectiveness data to be collected by AHRQ under Section 1013 of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2005 as the type of information that a private, third-party comparative effectiveness review organization should gather.]

Quality Letter for Healthcare Leaders
Addressing the barriers to greater implementation of electronic health records. Qual Lett Healthc Lead 2005 Nov; 17(11):10-2. [Quotes remarks by AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy and reviews findings from AHRQ-funded study on implementation of electronic health records.]

AHRQ launches Effective Healthcare Program for comparing treatments. Qual Lett Healthc Lead 2005 Nov; 17(11):14. [Describes components of AHRQ's Effective Health Care Program.]

Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing
Resources for evidence-based practice. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs 2005 Fourth Quarter; 2(4):217-8. [Includes as a resources AHRQ fact sheet, 30 Safe Practices for Better Health Care, 2005, as posted on AHRQ Web site.]

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)/Put Prevention Into Practice (PPIP)-Related Articles

American Family Physician
Hormone therapy for the prevention of chronic conditions in postmenopausal women. Am Fam Physician 2005 Dec 15; 72(12):2520-2. [Presents case study and study questions based on USPSTF recommendations on hormone therapy for prevention of chronic conditions in postmenopausal women, as posted on AHRQ Web site.]

National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR)/National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR)-Related Articles

Health Services Research
Mollborn S, Stepanikova I, Cook KS. Delayed care and unmet needs among health care system users: when does fiduciary trust in a physician matter? Health Serv Res 2005 Dec; 40(6 Pt 1):1898-917. [Cites NHDR, 2003, as posted on AHRQ Web site; cites AHRQ-authored articles by Fiscella, Franks, Gold and Clancy (JAMA, 2000) and Weinick, Zuvekas, and Cohen (second and third authors are researchers in AHRQ's Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends) (Med Care Res Rev, 2000.]

Current as of December 2005