AHRQ Views Blog: At the American Society of Health Economists Conference, AHRQ Highlights Its Deep Dive Into COVID-19

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Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Views Blog: At the American Society of Health Economists Conference, AHRQ Highlights Its Deep Dive Into COVID-19.
• New Issue Brief Addresses Diagnostic Safety During Transitions of Care.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Video-Assisted Coaching Reduced Intubation-Associated Adverse Events in Children, but Apneic Oxygenation Did Not.
• Explore Careers at AHRQ.
• Searchable AHRQ Database Provides Access to Health Services Research Findings.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Views Blog: At the American Society of Health Economists Conference, AHRQ Highlights Its Deep Dive Into COVID-19

AHRQ’s participation in this year’s American Society of Health Economists (ASHEcon) research conference is the subject of a new AHRQ Views blog by Joel Cohen, Ph.D. Dr. Cohen, director of AHRQ’s Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, noted that several AHRQ staff members will highlight research findings that offer important insights into the impacts of COVID-19. Topics of their analyses range from how the pandemic impacted mental health treatment to how hospitals’ experiences with COVID-19 affected the quality of care. These and other research projects based on AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) provide a unique basis for analyzing both the parameters of the current U.S. healthcare system and the ways that changes to the system can affect the cost and quality of and access to care delivered in this country. Access the blog. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address.

New Issue Brief Addresses Diagnostic Safety During Transitions of Care

AHRQ’s new issue brief, Diagnostic Safety Across Transitions of Care Throughout the Healthcare System: Current State and a Call to Action, highlights the greater potential for diagnostic errors during transitions in care, such as from the emergency department to the hospital ward or from inpatient to outpatient care. The brief describes factors that can contribute to diagnostic errors during transitions in care and strategies to prevent and reduce these errors. Examples of such strategies include using data analysis tools and structured communication frameworks. Access this issue brief and others in AHRQ’s series on diagnostic safety.

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:

• Incidence and outcomes of non-ventilator-associated hospital-acquired pneumonia in 284 US hospitals using electronic surveillance criteria.
• Underreporting of quality measures and associated facility characteristics and racial disparities in US nursing home ratings.
• The Ohio Maternal Safety Quality Improvement Project: initial results of a statewide perinatal hypertension quality improvement initiative implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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).

Video-Assisted Coaching Reduced Intubation-Associated Adverse Events in Children, but Apneic Oxygenation Did Not

Adverse tracheal intubation-associated events—unwanted events that occur as a result of the intubation process—are the subject of two AHRQ-funded studies. In a study published in Critical Care, researchers examined whether or not apneic oxygenation, in which oxygen is administered to help when breathing slows or stops during intubation, would reduce tracheal intubation-associated events in children. They implemented a quality improvement intervention in 14 pediatric intensive care units and found that apneic oxygenation did not reduce adverse tracheal intubation-associated events. A study in Critical Care Medicine evaluated implementation of the use of a video laryngoscope, which allows doctors to see the airway, as a coaching device to reduce tracheal intubation-associated events in 10 pediatric intensive care units. Researchers found that use of video laryngoscope coaching did reduce adverse tracheal intubation-associated events.

Explore Careers at AHRQ

Join the team that strives to improve healthcare for all Americans by investing in health systems research, creating strategies to support practice improvement and providing data and analytics to identify opportunities for improvement. Current vacancies include:

• Administrative Officer - Division Director, Office of Management Services. Application deadline: June 16.
• Principal Deputy for Programs, Office of the Director. Application deadline: June 26.

Searchable AHRQ Database Provides Access to Health Services Research Findings

Researchers looking for the latest research on topics ranging from diagnostic safety to primary care to health information technology can find it in AHRQ’s Research Studies database. This resource offers summaries of more than 10,000 published articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers. It includes summaries of journal articles, book chapters and working papers from 2013 to present. Updated monthly, the resource allows searching by keyword and provides links to journal abstracts. Access the database.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Implementation of an electronic alert to improve timeliness of second dose antibiotics for patients with suspected serious infections in the emergency department: a quasi-randomized controlled trial. Lee AH, McEvoy DS, Stump T, et al. Ann Emerg Med 2023 Apr;81(4):485-91. Epub 2023 Jan 18. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Identifying high-need primary care patients using nursing knowledge and machine learning methods. Hewner S, Smith E, Sullivan SS. Appl Clin Inform 2023 May;14(3):408-17. Epub 2023 Mar 7. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Association of rurality and identifying as Black with receipt of specialty care among patients hospitalized with a diabetic foot ulcer: a Medicare cohort study. Taylor L, Gangnon R, Powell WR, et al. BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care 2023 Apr;11(2):e003185. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Hospital-associated disability due to avoidable hospitalizations among older adults. Skains RM, Zhang Y, Osborne JD, et al. J Am Geriatr Soc 2023 May;71(5):1395-405. Epub 2023 Jan 20. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Telehealth for women's preventive services for reproductive health and intimate partner violence: a comparative effectiveness review. Cantor AG, Nelson HD, Pappas M, et al. J Gen Intern Med 2023 May;38(7):1735-43. Epub 2023 Jan 17. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Managing interruptions to improve diagnostic decision-making: strategies and recommended research agenda. Sloane JF, Donkin C, Newell BR, et al. J Gen Intern Med 2023 May;38(6):1526-31. Epub 2023 Jan 25. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Racial and ethnic disparities in health care use and access associated with loss of Medicaid supplemental insurance eligibility above the federal poverty level. Roberts ET, Kwon Y, Hames AG, et al. JAMA Intern Med 2023 Jun;183(6):534-43. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Out-of-pocket spending for non-birth-related hospitalizations of privately insured US children, 2017 to 2019. Carlton EF, Becker NV, Moniz MH, et al. JAMA Pediatr 2023 May;177(5):516-25. Access the abstract on PubMed®.