New AHRQ Views Blog Posts

AHRQ Stats: Increased Emergency Department Visits

The rate of emergency department visits increased for all age groups between 2006 and 2015. The highest increase—20 percent—was among patients between 45 and 64. (Source: AHRQ, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #238, Trends in Hospital Emergency Department Visits by Age and Payer, 2006–2015.) 

Today's Headlines:

• New AHRQ Views Blog Posts.
• Strategies Ineffective for Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Live Donor Kidney Transplants.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• July 24 Deadline Set for Abstract Submissions to AcademyHealth Conference on Dissemination and Implementation.
• Register Now for TeamSTEPPS Online Course To Improve Safety and Quality in Office Settings.
• July 25 Webinar To Highlight New Survey for Measuring Views on Health Information Technology and Patient Safety.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

New AHRQ Views Blog Posts

AcademyHealth and AHRQ: Finding Innovative Solutions To Better Understand, Implement Research. AHRQ Director Gopal Khanna, M.B.A., discusses how AHRQ plans to continue conversations on the future of health services research, a topic explored last week at AcademyHealth’s 2018 Annual Research Meeting. AHRQ is planning a challenge competition aimed at developing user-friendly tools to collect and integrate patient-reported outcomes data from electronic health records or other health information technology products. This idea and similar challenges will be aimed at helping to improve health while reducing health care costs and creating value for the American people.

At New Steering Committee, a Revitalized Commitment to Patient Safety. Jeffrey Brady, M.D., M.P.H., director of AHRQ’s Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, reports on the inaugural meeting of the new National Steering Committee for Patient Safety. Dr. Brady, who co-chairs the committee with Tejal K. Gandhi, M.D., M.P.H., chief clinical and safety officer of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, asserts that the time has come for broader, more collaborative patient safety initiatives. He writes that committee members identified four elements essential to future improvements: maintaining patient safety culture, advancing learning health systems, increasing patient and family engagement, and addressing factors that compromise clinicians’ physical and emotional well-being.

Strategies Ineffective for Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Live Donor Kidney Transplants

National strategies for reducing racial and ethnic disparities among patients waiting for kidney transplants from live donors have been ineffective, according to AHRQ-funded research findings in JAMA. Legislation over the past two decades has aimed to reduce economic barriers for potential living donors, increase knowledge to change beliefs and attitudes about the importance of living donation and improve clinical techniques. To assess the initiatives’ effectiveness, researchers analyzed the status of more than 450,000 adult first-time kidney transplant candidates between January 1995 and December 2014. They found that the likelihood of receiving a kidney within two years of getting on a transplant list increased for both whites (from 7.0 percent to 11.0 percent) and Asians (5.1 percent to 5.6 percent), but decreased for blacks (3.4 percent to 2.9 percent) and Hispanics (6.8 percent to 5.9 percent). Researchers recommended programs to overcome cultural barriers to live donor kidney transplantation in the Hispanic community, policies to standardize and increase the availability of kidney exchanges, and collaboration between researchers and patient advocates. Access the abstract.

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:

• Four states with robust prescription drug monitoring programs reduced opioid dosages.
• A multi-hospital before–after observational study using a point-prevalence approach with an infusion safety intervention bundle to reduce intravenous medication administration errors.
• We will not compete on safety: how children's hospitals have come together to hasten harm reduction.

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).

July 24 Deadline Set for Abstract Submissions to AcademyHealth Conference on Dissemination and Implementation

Abstracts for AcademyHealth’s 11th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health are being accepted through Tuesday, July 24, at 5 p.m. ET. The conference aims to bridge the gap between research, practice and policy by outlining priorities in the field. The theme for this year's Dec. 3–5 conference will focus on strategies for scaling up effective interventions across communities, health systems, networks and countries, and efforts to build capacity for dissemination and implementation science. Abstract submissions are encouraged for three types of scientific sessions: individual oral presentations, panel presentations and poster presentations. 

Register Now for TeamSTEPPS Online Course To Improve Safety and Quality in Office Settings

Registration is open for a free TeamSTEPPS® patient safety training course that begins July 16 and is designed to enhance communication and teamwork skills among office-based professionals. Attendees may receive credit for quality improvement under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System. Participants may begin pre-course work now and will earn free continuing education credits for completing the training modules. Master Trainer certificates will be awarded for completing course requirements.

July 25 Webinar To Highlight New Survey for Measuring Views on Health Information Technology and Patient Safety

A webinar on July 25 from 2 to 2:50 p.m. ET will highlight a new AHRQ survey to help hospitals measure staff sensitivity about health information technology and its effects on patient safety. The survey is designed for use with AHRQ’s core Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™. The webinar on the new Health Information Technology (IT) Patient Safety Supplemental Items will feature speakers including Jeffrey Brady, M.D., M.P.H., director of AHRQ’s Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, and Tejal K. Gandhi, M.D., M.P.H., chief clinical and safety officer of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Falls and frailty in prostate cancer survivors: current, past, and never users of androgen deprivation therapy. Winters-Stone KM, Moe E, Graff JN, et al. J Am Geriatr Soc 2017 Jul;65(7):1414-19. Epub 2017 Mar 6. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Adolescents' perspectives on personalized e-feedback in the context of health risk behavior screening for primary care: qualitative study. Zieve GG, Richardson LP, Katzman K, et al. J Med Internet Res 2017 Jul 20;19(7):e261. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Adherence and healthcare utilization among older adults with COPD and depression. Albrecht JS, Khokhar B, Huang TY, et al. Respir Med 2017 Aug;129:53-8. Epub 2017 Jun 3. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Age and sex disparities in discharge statin prescribing in the Stroke Belt: evidence from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study. Albright KC, Howard VJ, Howard G, et al. J Am Heart Assoc 2017 Aug 2;6(8). Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Comparing health care resource use between implant and autologous reconstruction of the irradiated breast: a national claims-based assessment. Aliu O, Zhong L, Chetta MD, et al. Plast Reconstr Surg 2017 Jun;139(6):1224e-31e. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Identification of novel risk factors for community-acquired Clostridium difficile infection using spatial statistics and geographic information system analyses. Anderson DJ, Rojas LF, Watson S, et al. PLoS One 2017 May 16;12(5):e0176285. eCollection 2017. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Recommendations for patient engagement in guideline development panels: a qualitative focus group study of guideline-naive patients. Armstrong MJ, Mullins CD, Gronseth GS, et al. PLoS One 2017 Mar 20;12(3):e0174329. eCollection 2017. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Cost-effectiveness of meglumine antimoniate versus miltefosine caregiver DOT for the treatment of pediatric cutaneous leishmaniasis. Berger BA, Cossio A, Saravia NG, et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2017 Apr 6;11(4):e0005459. eCollection 2017 Apr. Access the abstract on PubMed®.