AHRQ Sharpens Focus on Digital Healthcare Research

AHRQ Stats: Lowest Healthcare Premiums in the United States

In 2018, average annual healthcare premiums for single coverage in employer-sponsored plans were significantly lower than the national average of $6,715 in 14 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. (Source: AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey—Insurance Component 2018 Chartbook.) 

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Sharpens Focus on Digital Healthcare Research.
• Infections Among Infants in Intensive Care Units Are Lowered When Parents Are Decolonized.
• Despite Recommendations, Use of Statins To Prevent Heart Attacks and Stroke Has Remained Unchanged.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Webcast on AHRQ’s Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Surveys.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Sharpens Focus on Digital Healthcare Research

AHRQ is sharpening its focus on digital healthcare research to better reflect the agency’s goal of being an emerging leader in transforming the healthcare system. Toward that end, AHRQ has updated the name of its Division of Health Information Technology to the Division of Digital Healthcare Research. There is a pressing need for new, energetic research initiatives to explore how the evolving digital healthcare ecosystem can best advance the quality, safety and effectiveness of healthcare for patients and their families. To learn more, access an AHRQ Views blog post from Director Gopal Khanna, M.B.A., and an updated website.

Infections Among Infants in Intensive Care Units Are Lowered When Parents Are Decolonized

Parents of infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) who are decolonized with a nasal antibiotic and a skin disinfectant are less likely to transmit Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) to their baby, according to a new AHRQ-funded study in JAMA. S. aureus is a leading cause of healthcare-associated infections among NICU babies and can threaten their survival and brain development. In their study of 208 babies, researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that decolonizing the parents of babies admitted to the NICU reduced S. aureus infections by half. Further research is needed to confirm the findings, researchers noted. Access the abstract. 

Despite Recommendations, Use of Statins To Prevent Heart Attacks and Stroke Has Remained Unchanged

The rate of statin use to prevent cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes among people with cardiovascular disease remained unchanged from 2008 to 2016 despite American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines, which recommended their use for secondary prevention and the availability of generics, according to an AHRQ-funded study. Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. Statins lower cholesterol levels, prevent disease progression and adverse cardiovascular events, and reduce mortality. The study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine found that from 2014 to 2016, more than 40 percent of people ages 40 years and older with a history of cardiovascular disease—about 9.5 million Americans—did not use statins, despite the recommendations. Increasing age and having been diagnosed with high cholesterol were associated with higher odds of statin use, while being female or Hispanic were associated with lower odds of statin use. The study underscores the need for efforts to increase uptake of this evidence-based therapy while at the same time reducing disparities. The study was based on data from AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. 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:

• Integrating adverse event eporting into a free-text mobile application used in daily workflow increases adverse event reporting by physicians.
• Effect of cognitive aids on adherence to best practice in the treatment of deteriorating surgical patients: a randomized clinical trial in a simulation setting.
• Content analysis of patient safety incident reports for older adult patient transfers, handovers, and discharges: do they serve organizations, staff, or patients?

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). 

Webcast on AHRQ’s Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Surveys

The AHRQ webcast "Understanding CAHPS Surveys: A Primer for New Users," is on January 22, 2020 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. Speakers will provide an overview of how the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and System (CAHPS) surveys focus on patients’ priorities and build on current research in survey development and administration. Speakers will also discuss the ways in which organizations are using survey results.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Healthcare experiences of transgender people of color. Howard SD, Lee KL, Nathan AG, et al. J Gen Intern Med 2019 Oct;34(10):2068-74. Epub 2019 Aug 5. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Epidemiology of hospital-onset versus community-onset sepsis in U.S. hospitals and association with mortality: a retrospective analysis using electronic clinical data. Rhee C, Wang R, Zhang Z, et al. Crit Care Med 2019 Sep;47(9):1169-76. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Pro-con debate on regionalization of emergency general surgery: controversy or common sense? Santry H, Kao LS, Shafi S, et al. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open 2019 May 19;4(1):e000319. eCollection 2019. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Preventing and managing multimorbidity by integrating behavioral health and primary care. Bierman AS. Health Psychol 2019 Sep;38(9):851-4. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Loss of community-dwelling status among survivors of high-acuity emergency general surgery disease. Smith JW, Knight Davis J, Quatman-Yates CC, et al. J Am Geriatr Soc 2019 Nov;67(11):2289-97. Epub 2019 Jul 13. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

How are medical groups identified as high-performing? The effect of different approaches to classification of performance. Ahluwalia SC, Damberg CL, Haas A, et al. BMC Health Serv Res 2019 Jul 18;19(1):500. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

An electronic registry to improve adherence to active surveillance monitoring among men with prostate cancer at a safety-net hospital: protocol for a pilot study. Cedars B, Lisker S, Borno HT, et al. Pilot Feasibility Stud 2019 Aug 14;5:101. eCollection 2019. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Differential item functioning of the CAHPS® In-Center Hemodialysis Survey. Setodji CM, Peipert JD, Hays RD. Qual Life Res 2019 Nov;28(11):3117-35. Epub 2019 Jul 26. Access the abstract on PubMed®.