Contents

Feature Story

• Plenary sessions at AHRQ annual meeting focus on connecting the dots between research and practice

Safety and Quality of Care

• Oral chemotherapy drugs not immune to medication errors
• Whistleblowers in pharmaceutical fraud cases pursue Federal lawsuits for moral reasons, not money
• MRSA can spread slowly but surely in households
• Electronic medical record boosts documentation of test results, but still falls short for patient notification and test followup
• Various factors affect providers' ability to identify spoken drug names
• AHRQ patient safety indicator can be used to identify cases of hospital-acquired collapsed lung
• Cesarean delivery rates may not be a useful measure of obstetric quality

Outcomes/Effectiveness Research

• Clopidogrel increases bleeding risk in cardiac patients with drug-eluting stents
• Higher risk of death or heart attack in first 90 days after cardiac patients stop taking clopidogrel
• Hospital report cards on coronary bypass surgery are more accurate when based on 2-year data
• Colonoscopy is best at diagnosing lower intestinal bleeding
• Most adults with lactose intolerance can tolerate the amount of lactose in a cup of milk
• Pharmacy intervention for patients with limited literacy evokes positive responses from patients and pharmacists

Disparities/Minority Health

• Black and Hispanic Medicare patients with hip fracture wait longer for surgery than white patients

Women's Health

• 9/11 attacks may have caused miscarriages of male fetuses
• One-fifth of mothers do not receive recommended antenatal corticosteroids before delivery of premature infants

Chronic Disease

• Stroke recurrence rates vary by U.S. region
• A simple test can help assess how accurately patients report colorectal cancer screening

Public Health Preparedness

• Heart-lung machine may be considered for certain patients with H1N1 influenza with acute respiratory failure

Primary Care

• Medical home concept not well defined in 2007 legislation

HIV/AIDS Research

• Internet-based personal health records helpful to most HIV/AIDS patients who used them

Agency News and Notes

• Premiums for some family plans cost $20,000 or more
• Use of diabetes pills up, insulin use down
• Human growth hormone shows promise in treating cystic fibrosis symptoms
• Potentially avoidable hospitalizations high among Medicare and Medicaid patients
• Prostate cancer deaths drop, but blacks still most likely to die
• Most public hospitals are in rural areas

Announcements

• HHS awards $473 million in patient-centered outcomes research funding
• AHRQ releases new Spanish language guides on women's health, cholesterol treatment, and other topics
• New guide available on the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange
• AHRQ releases new and improved Registries for Evaluating Patient Outcomes

Research Briefs