Available Administrative Flexibilities for AHRQ Grantees Due to COVID-19

AHRQ Stats

Access more data on this topic in the associated Statistical Brief.

Today's Headlines:

• Available Administrative Flexibilities for AHRQ Grantees Due to COVID-19.
• Women Report Better Quality of Life After Hysterectomy or Myomectomy for Uterine Fibroid Removal.
• New AHRQ Grantee Profile Highlights How Greg Arling, Ph.D., Helped Design a Program To Help Healthy Nursing Home Residents Return to the Community.
• Study Examines Links Between Childhood Obesity and Use of Healthcare Services.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Virtual Workshop on Use of AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Available Administrative Flexibilities for AHRQ Grantees Due to COVID-19

A new Guide Notice issued by the AHRQ Division of Grants Management addresses a recent Office of Management and Budget memorandum signaling the federal government’s intent to provide administrative relief to AHRQ’s grantee community directly impacted by the Novel Coronavirus due to loss of operations. The notice, issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, outlines flexibilities related to application deadlines, no-cost extensions, reporting and other areas. Access the notice.

Women Report Better Quality of Life After Hysterectomy or Myomectomy for Uterine Fibroid Removal

All women with uterine fibroids who had a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) or a myomectomy (removal of the fibroids only) reported improved quality of life one year later, an AHRQ-funded study found. Fibroids, noncancerous growths on the uterine wall, occur in as many as 80 percent of reproductive-age women and cause pain, bleeding, and urinary and sexual problems. However, the improvement was greater for women who had a hysterectomy; they reported a greater reduction in their symptoms than women who had a myomectomy. The study, which analyzed questionnaires completed by 1,113 premenopausal women enrolled in a uterine fibroid registry, was one of the largest to compare quality of life for the two procedures, although it didn’t include patient motivations for choosing either procedure. Access the abstract of the study published in Fertility and Sterility.

New AHRQ Grantee Profile Highlights How Greg Arling, Ph.D., Helped Design a Program To Help Healthy Nursing Home Residents Return to the Community

A new grantee profile examines how AHRQ-funded researcher Greg Arling, Ph.D., a professor of nursing at Purdue University, helped design a program that helps healthier, short-stay nursing home residents return to the community. Check out Dr. Arling’s grantee profile and others that show how AHRQ grantees have made major advances in health services research. 

Study Examines Links Between Childhood Obesity and Use of Healthcare Services

A new AHRQ-funded analysis that is part of an ongoing series about child health has quantified how different types of healthcare utilization, such as regular checkups and prescription fills, are associated with obesity among children. The report, published in Academic Pediatrics and based on 2010-15 data from AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, concluded:

• Among children ages 7 to 17, the prevalence of obesity was lower among those with private insurance (15.5 percent) than for those who were publicly insured (25.7 percent) or uninsured (19.8 percent).
• Children ages 7 to 11 with obesity were less likely to report a well-child visit.
• Children overall with obesity were less likely than nonobese children to have regular dentist appointments.

The “Annual Report on Children's Healthcare: Healthcare Access and Utilization by Obesity Status in the United States,” is the 14th in a series of analyses on healthcare use for children. 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:

• ACR Recommendations for the use of Chest Radiography and Computed Tomography (CT) for Suspected COVID-19 Infection.
• Health and social care-associated harm amongst vulnerable children in primary care: mixed methods analysis of national safety reports.
• What do emergency department physicians and nurses feel? A qualitative study of emotions, triggers, regulation strategies, and effects on patient care.
• Rate of preventable mortality in hospitalized patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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).

Virtual Workshop on Use of AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

The workshop provides an overview of MEPS data, practical information on MEPS public-use data files and an opportunity to construct analytic files with the assistance of AHRQ staff. The workshop, designed as virtual in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is aimed at health services researchers with an interest in using national health surveys.

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• Technical Brief: Impact of Community Health Worker Certification on Workforce and Service Delivery for Asthma and Other Selected Chronic Diseases.
• Methods Research Report: Integrating Health System Data With Systematic Reviews: A Framework for When and How Unpublished Health System Data Can Be Used With Systematic Reviews To Support Health System Decision Making.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

The role of plan choice in health care utilization of high-deductible plan enrollees. Abdus S. Health Serv Res 2020 Feb;55(1):119-27. Epub 2019 Oct 27. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Pharmacologic therapies in patients with exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Dobler CC, Morrow AS, Beuschel B, et al. Ann Intern Med 2020 Feb 25 [Epub ahead of print.]. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

ICU utilization for patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease receiving noninvasive ventilation. Myers LC, Faridi MK, Currier P, et al. Crit Care Med 2019 May;47(5):677-884. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Peritoneal dialysis-related infection rates and outcomes: results from the Peritoneal Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (PDOPPS). Perl J, Fuller DS, Bieber BA, et al. Am J Kidney Dis 2020 Jan 10. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Patient activation as a pathway to shared decision-making for adults with diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Poon BY, Shortell SM, Rodriguez HP. J Gen Intern Med 2020 Mar;35(3):732-42. Epub 2019 Oct 23. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Overprescribing of opioids to adults by dentists in the U.S., 2011-2015. Suda KJ, Zhou J, Rowan SA, et al. Am J Prev Med 2020 Apr;58(4):473-86. Epub 2020 Feb 4. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Telemedicine is associated with rapid transfer and fewer involuntary holds among patients presenting with suicidal ideation in rural hospitals: a propensity matched cohort study. Vakkalanka JP, Harland KK, Wittrock A, et al. J Epidemiol Community Health 2019 Nov;73(11):1033-9. Epub 2019 Sep 6. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Health systems' use of enterprise health information exchange vs single electronic health record vendor environments and unplanned readmissions. Vest JR, Unruh MA, Freedman S, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2019 Oct;26(10):989-98. Access the abstract on PubMed®.