AHRQ Announces New Challenge Competition To Highlight the Impact of its Patient Safety Tools

AHRQ Stats: Uninsured Mothers by Income

Between 2008 and 2019, the percentage of mothers who were uninsured at the time of birth declined among women in two income groups: those in families that earned annual incomes between 0 and 138 percent of the federal poverty level and those in families that earned between 251 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #547, Insurance Status of Mothers at the Time of Birth, by Demographic Characteristics, 2008-19.)

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Announces New Challenge Competition To Highlight the Impact of its Patient Safety Tools.
• Study Finds Racial and Ethnic Bias in Healthcare Algorithms.
• Coalition of Stakeholders Needed To Foster Trust in Healthcare Artificial Intelligence.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• AHRQ Webinars in June.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Announces New Challenge Competition To Highlight the Impact of its Patient Safety Tools

A new AHRQ challenge competition is intended to demonstrate how the use of the agency’s patient safety tools has resulted in safer healthcare. Up to 10 winners who describe how the use of patient safety resources resulted in measurable improvement will receive $10,000 each. The challenged is designed to provide AHRQ with a deeper understanding about how its tools are being used and to inform future efforts to advance safety improvement efforts. Challenge submissions are due to Challenge.Gov by Oct. 5, and winners will be announced in November. Access more details about the challenge as well as AHRQ’s press release.

Study Finds Racial and Ethnic Bias in Healthcare Algorithms

Because algorithms commonly used in electronic health records, clinical guidelines and healthcare decision tools may introduce bias into care delivery and outcomes, standardized and rigorous approaches for algorithm development and implementation are needed to mitigate racial and ethnic biases and reduce health inequities, according to a new AHRQ study published in JAMA Health Forum. There has been increasing concern that clinical algorithms may perpetuate or exacerbate health inequities associated with race and ethnicity. Researchers conducted a qualitative analysis of 42 responses to AHRQ’s request for information in the Federal Register on potential algorithm-related bias. They concluded that algorithms are in widespread use and may be biased whether or not they include race; there is no standardization in how race is defined; bias can be introduced at all stages of algorithm development and implementation; and algorithms’ use and bias should be discussed between clinicians and patients, who are often unaware of their use and potential for bias. Access the abstract.

Coalition of Stakeholders Needed To Foster Trust in Healthcare Artificial Intelligence

Many clinicians do not trust artificial intelligence (AI), but the technology ultimately can be used to improve patient care, a group of authors including researchers from AHRQ has concluded. The authors, writing in the journal Critical Care Clinics, reviewed what is known about AI in the clinical setting, reflected on provider trust in predictive analytics and offered a roadmap to facilitate trust. The authors acknowledged that many clinicians do not trust the technology and called for a broad coalition of stakeholders to help increase trust in AI so its promise in health and healthcare can be achieved. 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:

• Effect of an emergency department process improvement package on suicide prevention: the ED-SAFE 2 cluster randomized clinical trial.
• Patients admitted on weekends have higher in-hospital mortality than those admitted on weekdays: analysis of national inpatient sample.
• The impact of nursing skill-mix on adverse events in intensive care: a single centre cohort study.

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). Note: the PSNet website now allows searches of the PSNet Collection by author and includes a Submit An Innovation feature, which allows users to contribute information on patient safety innovations.

AHRQ Webinars in June

Learn about upcoming webinars, including how to register:

• June 14, noon to 2 p.m. ET: Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Program Grand Rounds on Maternal Health. This webinar will highlight two EPC Program reports on maternal health while addressing evidence gaps and implications for clinical practice.
• June 15, 1:30 to 3 p.m. ET: Clinical Decision Support at the Point of Care. This webinar will highlight how modern, shareable and interoperable technologies have been used to implement patient-focused clinical decision support (CDS) tools.
• June 27, 2 to 3 p.m. ET: Preventing Workplace Violence (sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The webinar is part of an HHS series sponsored by the National Action Alliance To Advance Patient Safety, a public–private effort to support healthcare delivery systems’ move toward zero harm.

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• Systematic review: Postpartum Care up to 1 Year After Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
• Systematic review: Management of Postpartum Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based interventions in the context of a randomized clinical trial in the United States: a qualitative study. Jaramillo ET, Willging CE, Saldana L, et al. BMC Health Serv Res 2023 Jan 26;23(1):88. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Patient-reported outcomes for measuring sleep disturbance in pediatric atopic dermatitis: cross-sectional study of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System pediatric sleep measures and actigraphy. Fishbein AB, Lor J, Penedo FJ, et al. J Am Acad Dermatol 2023 Feb;88(2):348-56. Epub 2020 Jun 3. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Patients' willingness to accept social needs navigation after in-person versus remote screening. Steeves-Reece AL, Davis MM, Hiebert Larson J, et al. J Am Board Fam Med 2023 Apr 3;36(2):229-39. Epub 2023 Mar 3. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Assessing patient-level knowledge of precision medicine in a community health center setting. Stallings SC, Richmond J, Canedo JR, et al. J Community Genet 2023 Apr;14(2):197-210. Epub 2023 Jan 7. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

The impact of neighborhood social disadvantage on abdominal aortic aneurysm severity and management. Mota L, Marcaccio CL, Patel PB, et al. J Vasc Surg 2023 Apr;77(4):1077-86.e2. Epub 2022 Nov 5. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

State-level variation in supplemental maternity kick payments in Medicaid managed care. Auty SG, Daw JR, Wallace J. JAMA Intern Med 2023 Jan;183(1):80-2. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Hospital characteristics associated with nurse staffing during labor and birth: Inequities for the most vulnerable maternity patients. Simpson KR, Spetz J, Gay CL, et al. Nurs Outlook 2023 May;71(3):101960. Epub 2023 Mar 30. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Understanding the perceived role of electronic health records and workflow fragmentation on clinician documentation burden in emergency departments. Moy AJ, Hobensack M, Marshall K, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2023 Apr 19;30(5):797-808. Access the abstract on PubMed®.