AHRQ Views Blog: New Research Shows Promise of Telehealth in Treating Opioid Use Disorder

AHRQ Stats: Hospitalizations for Live Births

Live births represented one of every 10 hospitalizations in 2017, accounting for nearly $16 billion in total hospital costs. (Source: AHRQ, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #261, National Inpatient Hospital Costs: The Most Expensive Conditions by Payer, 2017.)

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Views Blog: New Research Shows Promise of Telehealth in Treating Opioid Use Disorder.
• National Academies Seeking Public Input on Allocation of a COVID-19 Vaccine.
• Economic Burden of Norovirus in the United States: $10.6 Billion Annually.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Top Performers Recognized in AHRQ’s Predictive Analytics Challenge Competition.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Views Blog: New Research Shows Promise of Telehealth in Treating Opioid Use Disorder

The potential of telehealth to help people with opioid use disorder continue their treatment is the subject of a new AHRQ Views blog post by agency Director Gopal Khanna, M.B.A., and Christine Chang, M.D., M.P.H., medical officer in AHRQ’s Evidence-based Practice Center Program. AHRQ has dramatically expanded its research about telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new Rapid Evidence Review found that telehealth is at least as effective as in-person visits when it comes to retaining patients in medications for addiction treatment programs. While telehealth is not a magic bullet for all situations, these findings comport with those from an earlier AHRQ report that found telehealth can provide additional specialized staff through remote intensive care units, speed emergency care decisions and expand access to specialty care. Access the blog post. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address and select “AHRQ Views Blog.”

National Academies Seeking Public Input on Allocation of a COVID-19 Vaccine

The National Academies is inviting public comments on the discussion draft of the Preliminary Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine. The initiative is part of a study commissioned by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study will recommend priorities to inform allocation of an initial supply of COVID-19 vaccine, taking into account factors such as racial/ethnic inequities and groups at higher risk from COVID-19 due to health status, occupation or living conditions. The discussion draft is available for public comment until 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 4. In addition, registration is open for a public listening session on Sept. 2, from noon to 5 p.m. ET. During this session, members of the public will have an opportunity to address the National Academies committee. Learn more about the study and provide comments.

Economic Burden of Norovirus in the United States: $10.6 Billion Annually

The estimated economic burden of norovirus, a common cause of acute gastroenteritis, is $10.6 billion per year in direct medical costs and costs of lost productivity, according to an AHRQ-funded study published in the Journal of Infectious Disease. This figure is based on a current incidence rate estimate in the United States of about 69 new cases per 1,000 people per year. A computational model developed by researchers found that employers and businesses are heavily impacted by the economic burden, most notably due to productivity losses driven by employee absenteeism. According to the model, norovirus outbreaks occurring in defined settings (e.g., schools or cruise ships) account for less than 10 percent of total annual costs, while sporadic cases occurring in the community account for more than 90 percent of total annual costs. These findings indicate the need for additional resources to improve disease tracking, control and prevention efforts, researchers concluded. The study offers insights into where and when infection prevention and control activities may yield the greatest returns. 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:

• Factors associated with workarounds in barcode-assisted medication administration in hospitals.
• Attending to the emotional well-being of the health care workforce in a New York City health system during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Using the ecological systems theory to understand black/white disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States.

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).

Top Performers Recognized in AHRQ’s Predictive Analytics Challenge Competition

AHRQ has selected the top performers in the agency’s competition to demonstrate how predictive analytics may be applied to existing databases to forecast future trends in healthcare utilization and spending. HCA Healthcare—NC Division, of Asheville, North Carolina, and Premier, Inc., of Charlotte, North Carolina, took top honors in AHRQ’s “Bringing Predictive Analytics to Healthcare Challenge.” The competition was launched in March 2019. Five top performers will divide a $225,000 award pool. Predictive analytics are statistical techniques that analyze current and historical facts to make educated predictions about future events. The technique has been used in business and manufacturing, but AHRQ has identified its potential to help anticipate emerging needs in healthcare. The predictive analytics challenge is among several AHRQ competitions developed to drive innovation in healthcare.

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• Systematic review: Care Interventions for People Living With Dementia and Their Caregivers.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Few aggressive or violent incidents are associated with the use of HIV self-tests to screen sexual partners among key populations. Carballo-Diéguez A, Giguere R, Balán IC, et al. AIDS Behav 2020 Jul;24(7):2220-6. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Association of implicit intensity values incorporated into work RVUs with objective measures. Childers CP, Tang AB, Maggard-Gibbons M. Am J Surg 2020 Jun;219(6):976-82. Epub 2019 Sep 24. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Association between statewide school closure and COVID-19 incidence and mortality in the US. Auger KA, Shah SS, Richardson T, et al. JAMA 2020 Jul 29. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Qualitative validation of the nursing home IT maturity staging model. Powell KR, Alexander GL. J Gerontol Nurs 2020 Jul 1;46(7):47-54. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Trends in telestroke care delivery: a 15-year experience of an academic hub and its network of spokes. Sharma R, Zachrison KS, Viswanathan A, et al. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes 2020 Mar;13(3):e005903. Epub 2020 Mar 4. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Performance of ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes for identifying children with sickle cell anemia. Reeves SL, Madden B, WuM, et al. Health Serv Res 2020 Apr;55(2):310-7. Epub 2020 Jan 9. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Multilevel variation in diabetes screening within an integrated health system. Obinwa U, Pérez A, Lingvay I, et al. Diabetes Care 2020 May;43(5):1016-24. Epub 2020 Mar 5. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Frailty as a predictor of death or new disability after surgery: a prospective cohort study. McIsaac DI, Taljaard M, Bryson GL, et al. Ann Surg 2020 Feb;271(2):283-9. Access the abstract on PubMed®.