Electronic Triggers May Reduce Delays in Bladder Cancer Diagnoses

AHRQ Stats: Out-of-Pocket Spending Among Seniors

Among seniors with Medicare and additional public coverage such as Medicaid, inflation-adjusted out-of-pocket payments for medical care decreased from an average of $1,253 in 2000 to $427 in 2014. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #500: Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenses for Medical Services, by Insurance Coverage, 2000-2014.)

Today's Headlines:

• Electronic Triggers May Reduce Delays in Bladder Cancer Diagnoses.
• Continuing Education Credits Available for TeamSTEPPS Course for Improving Office-Based Care.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• New CAHPS® Cancer Care Survey Assesses Patient Experience in Outpatient and Inpatient Settings.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• Featured Case Study: Tennessee Hospitals Use AHRQ Tools To Boost Patient Safety, Saving $17 Million.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Electronic Triggers May Reduce Delays in Bladder Cancer Diagnoses

AHRQ-funded researchers who developed a "trigger system" to scan a Department of Veterans Affairs database found that more than 8 percent of patients with high levels of blood in their urine experienced delays in follow-up treatment. The study suggests that providers could be missing urinalysis results even when red blood cell counts are high enough to warrant additional tests for cancer. Authors of the new study in Applied Clinical Informatics concluded that triggers warrant further study as a strategy to reduce delays in bladder cancer diagnosis. Access the abstract.

Continuing Education Credits Available for TeamSTEPPS Course for Improving Office-Based Care

Registration is open for AHRQ’s TeamSTEPPS for Office-Based Care pilot course. Space is limited for the course, which focuses on enhancing communication and teamwork skills among office-based professionals to improve patient safety and quality. Participants may earn continuing education or continuing medical education credits. Master Trainer certificates will be awarded to participants who complete course requirements. Additional course offerings will be available later in 2017.

Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network

AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet), which highlights journal publications, books and tools related to patient safety, has featured a new set of articles including:

• Impact of the Opioid Safety Initiative on opioid-related prescribing among veterans.
• Large-scale implementation of the I-PASS handoff system at an academic medical center.
• Emergency medical services responders' perceptions of the effect of stress and anxiety on patient safety in the out-of-hospital emergency care of children.

Review additional new publications in PSNet’s current issue or access recent cases and commentaries in AHRQ’s WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web).

New CAHPS® Cancer Care Survey Assesses Patient Experience in Outpatient and Inpatient Settings

The new Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Cancer Care Survey offers providers a new tool for understanding and improving their patients’ experiences with cancer treatment in outpatient and inpatient settings. Organizations can download and use three instruments for different cancer treatment approaches: radiation oncology, medical oncology and cancer surgery. The purpose of the survey is to support the efforts of cancer centers, oncology practices, hospitals and health systems to improve the patient centeredness of cancer care.

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

AHRQ has released two Spanish-language research summaries to help consumers and clinicians work together to review the evidence on treatment choices:

• Tratamiento del hemangioma infantil en niños: Revisión de la investigación para padres y personas que ayudan con el cuidado  (Treating Infantile Hemangiomas in Children).
• Si tiene que hacerse una biopsia del seno: Revisión de las investigaciones para mujeres y sus familias (Having a Breast Biopsy: A Review of the Research for Women and Their Families).

Featured Case Study: Tennessee Hospitals Use AHRQ Tools To Boost Patient Safety, Saving $17 Million

The Tennessee Center for Patient Safety used AHRQ resources—including the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program and the Re-Engineered Discharge toolkits—to help hospitals reduce safety events by more than 1,000 and readmissions by more than 1,500 between 2012 and 2014. The efforts saved hospitals $17 million. Access the impact case study.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Palliative care for pancreatic and periampullary cancer. Perone JA, Riall TS, Olino K. Surg Clin North Am 2016 Dec;96(6):1415-30. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) acquisition risk in an endemic neonatal intensive care unit with an active surveillance culture and decolonization programme. Pierce R, Lessler J, Popoola VO, et al. J Hosp Infect 2017 Jan;95(1):91-7. Epub 2016 Nov 4. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Summary of the update session on clinical neurotoxicity studies. Pinyavat T, Warner DO, Flick RP, et al. J Neurosurg Anesthesiol 2016 Oct;28(4):356-60. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Differences in prevalence of community-associated MRSA and MSSA among U.S. and non-U.S. born populations in six New York community health centers. Piper Jenks N, Pardos de la Gandara M, D'Orazio BM, et al. Travel Med Infect Dis 2016 Nov-Dec;14(6):551-60. Epub 2016 Oct 20. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Hospital variation in rates of acid-reducing medication use after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Pradarelli JC, Varban OA, Dimick JB. Surg Obes Relat Dis 2016 Aug;12(7):1382-9. Epub 2015 Dec 1. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Hispanic and immigrant paradoxes in U.S. breast cancer mortality: impact of neighborhood poverty and Hispanic density. Pruitt SL, Tiro JA, Xuan L, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2016 Dec 14;13(12). Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Big-data based decision-support systems to improve clinicians' cognition. Roosan D, Samore M, Jones M, et al. IEEE Int Conf Healthc Inform 2016;2016:285-8. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Changes in hospital-physician affiliations in U.S. hospitals and their effect on quality of care. Scott KW, Orav EJ, Cutler DM, et al. Ann Intern Med 2017 Jan 3;166(1):1-8. Epub 2016 Sep 20. Access the abstract on PubMed®.