New Toolkit Boosts Safety, Quality of Ambulatory Care Transitions

AHRQ Stats: Increased Hospital Stays for Hepatitis C

Hospital stays solely to treat hepatitis C increased 49 percent from 2005 to 2014. During the same period, hospital stays to treat hepatitis C in patients with other conditions such as hepatitis B or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) increased by 11 percent. (Source: AHRQ, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #232: Characteristics of Inpatient Stays Involving Hepatitis C, 2005-2014.)

Today's Headlines:

• New Toolkit Boosts Safety, Quality of Ambulatory Care Transitions.
• AHRQ Studies Quantify Increase in Primary Care Services Provided by Non-Physicians.
• AHRQ Views Blog Post—AHRQ Intensifies the Battle Against Opioid Misuse in 2017, Commits to More Progress in 2018.
• Report Shows Diagnostic Asthma Test Is Effective, Particularly in Diagnosing Children With Asthma Symptoms .
• Materials Available for CAHPS Webinar on Understanding CAHPS Surveys: A Primer for New Users
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network
• Deadline for AcademyHealth's 2018 Annual Research Meeting Has Ended
• National Cancer Institute Sought Feedback on Web Portal
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature

New Toolkit Boosts Safety, Quality of Ambulatory Care Transitions

Clinical staff working in ambulatory care settings have a new resource to improve the quality and safety of care transitions, especially for patients with chronic conditions. AHRQ’s Safe Transitions Toolkit provides practical and evidence-based tools to help clinical staff work more effectively with patients for new and follow-up appointments. Resources for patients and caregivers provide added insight about health conditions and how to work with their medical team. Access the toolkit.

AHRQ Studies Quantify Increase in Primary Care Services Provided by Non-Physicians

Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) have increasingly provided primary care treatment services to Medicare patients over the past decade, according to two AHRQ-funded studies:

• A study published in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health found primary care provided by physicians alone declined from 86 percent to 71 percent from 2008 to 2014. Meanwhile, shared care provided by physicians, NPs or PAs increased from 12 percent to 23 percent. Care from NPs and PAs alone grew from 3 percent to 6 percent. Access the abstract.
• A study in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners found a 170 percent increase in the number of Medicare patients receiving primary care from NPs alone from 2007 to 2013. Authors found no statistical difference in health status among patients treated by NPs alone as compared with physicians. Access the abstract.

AHRQ Views Blog Post—AHRQ Intensifies the Battle Against Opioid Misuse in 2017, Commits to More Progress in 2018

A new AHRQ Views blog post from Director Gopal Khanna, M.B.A., describes the agency’s 2017 efforts to tackle the opioid epidemic. AHRQ’s investments included data analyses to better understand the impacts of opioid misuse, research on potential strategies to attack the epidemic and the development of tools and training to support treatment.

Report Shows Diagnostic Asthma Test Is Effective, Particularly in Diagnosing Children With Asthma Symptoms

A new AHRQ report reviewed evidence on the effectiveness of a test used to support the diagnosis of asthma. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic Evidence-based Practice Center, who also published an article based on the report in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, found that when patients suspected to have asthma had a positive fractional concentration of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) test, they were more likely to have a confirmed diagnosis of asthma. Other findings show the FeNO test is more accurate in confirming the diagnosis of asthma in children age 5 to 18 and nonsmokers. FeNo results can also predict which patients will respond to inhaled corticosteroids. Access the report, The Clinical Utility of Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO) in Asthma Management.

Materials Available for CAHPS Webinar on Understanding CAHPS Surveys: A Primer for New Users

Materials are available for the CAHPS webinar on Understanding CAHPS Surveys: A Primer for New Users. This webcast provided an overview of the CAHPS surveys. Speakers explained how CAHPS surveys focus on patients' priorities and build on current research in survey development and administration. Speakers also reviewed research findings related to survey administration and discussed the ways in which organizations are using survey results.

Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network

AHRQ's Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include:

• Persistent opioid use among pediatric patients after surgery.
• Surveying care teams after in-hospital deaths to identify preventable harm and opportunities to improve advance care planning.
• Association between treatment by locum tenens internal medicine physicians and 30-day mortality among hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries.

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).

Deadline for AcademyHealth's 2018 Annual Research Meeting Has Ended

The deadline to submit abstracts for the January 11, 2018 AcademyHealth meeting has ended. For information on future AcademyHealth meetings, visit the AcademyHealth website.

National Cancer Institute Sought Feedback on Web Portal

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) was seeking participants for an online evaluation survey intended to support cancer control and prevention efforts. Survey responses will provide feedback on NCI’s Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T. (Plan, Link, Act, Network, with Evidence-based Tools), a Web portal that offers access to data and resources to help planners, program staff and researchers design, implement and evaluate evidence-based cancer control programs. Responses to the 5- to 10-minute survey will remain anonymous. The link to the survey has expired.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

The potential cost-effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis combined with HIV vaccines in the United States. Adamson BJS, Carlson JJ, Kublin JG, et al. Vaccines (Basel) 2017 May 24;5(2). Access the abstract on PubMed.

Accuracy of laboratory data communication on ICU daily rounds using an electronic health record. Artis KA, Dyer E, Mohan V, et al. Crit Care Med 2017 Feb;45(2):179-86. Access the abstract on PubMed.

Accountability across the continuum: the participation of postacute care providers in accountable care organizations. Colla CH, Lewis VA, Bergquist SL, et al. Health Serv Res 2016 Aug; 51(4):1595-1611. Epub 2016 Jan 22. Access the abstract on PubMed.

Association between Medicare accountable care organization implementation and spending among clinically vulnerable beneficiaries. Colla CH, Lewis VA, Kao LS, et al. JAMA Intern Med 2016 Aug 1; 176(8):1167-75. Access the abstract on PubMed.

Implementation science: a potential catalyst for delivery system reform. Fisher ES, Shortell SM, Savitz LA. JAMA 2016 Jan 26;315(4):339-40. Access the abstract on PubMed.

Determinants of success in Shared Savings Programs: an analysis of ACO and market characteristics. Ouayogodé MH, Colla CH, Lewis VA. Healthc (Amst) 2017 Mar;5(1-2):53-61. Epub 2016 Sep 28. Access the abstract on PubMed.

ACOs holding commercial contracts are larger and more efficient than noncommercial ACOs. Peiris D, Phipps-Taylor MC, Stachowski CA, et al. Health Aff (Millwood) 2016 Oct 1; 35(10):1849-56. Access the abstract on PubMed.

Improving medical record retrieval for validation studies in Medicare data. Wright NC, Delzell ES, Smith WK, et al. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2017 Apr;26(4):393-401. Epub 2016 Nov 7. Access the abstract on PubMed.