Heart Failure Patients’ Risk of Adverse Events Higher in Poor-Performing Hospitals

AHRQ Stats: Largest Declines in Life Expectancy

Between 2019 and 2021, the average life expectancy for non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native people declined by 9.2 percent, the most among any group. Average life expectancy declined by 5.3 percent for Black people, 5.1 percent for Hispanic people, 3 percent for White people, and 2.5 percent for Asian people. (Source: 2023 AHRQ National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report. [PDF, 9 MB])

Today's Headlines:

• Heart Failure Patients’ Risk of Adverse Events Higher in Poor-Performing Hospitals.
• Patient Safety Network Articles Highlight Impacts of Climate Change on Healthcare.
• New Report Finds Frameworks for Respectful Maternity Care, but Definitions Vary.
• Comments Due March 4 on Quality Indicators Measure for Severe Maternal Morbidity.
• Now Available: Proceedings From Workshop on Healthcare Disparities.
• Additional Results Available for AHRQ’s Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® Hospital Workplace Safety.
• AHRQ To Host Virtual Software Developers Meeting on the Common Formats for Patient Safety Data Collection.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Heart Failure Patients’ Risk of Adverse Events Higher in Poor-Performing Hospitals

Patients with heart failure admitted to hospitals with higher 30-day readmission rates and deaths from all causes have a 24 percent higher risk of suffering one or more adverse events during their stay, according to an AHRQ study in Circulation, Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Among the 3,108 hospitals reviewed, 215 were classified as “better” than average, with death and readmission rates in the top 25th percentile, and 252 were “worse” than average with both rates in the bottom 75th percentile. Patients with heart failure admitted to hospitals that perform poorly on mortality and readmission measures have higher risk of acquiring hospital adverse events, the researchers concluded. Access the abstract.

Patient Safety Network Articles Highlight Impacts of Climate Change on Healthcare

Two articles published on AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) address pressing issues related to climate change and its impacts on healthcare. The Relationship Between Climate Change and Healthcare Quality and Safety discusses the healthcare industry’s role in contributing to climate change and associated impacts on human health. Further, climate change’s relationship to patient safety is explored in a PSNet question-and-answer session with Jodi Sherman, M.D., the director of the Yale Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability. Each week, AHRQ’s PSNet provides access to journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Additional articles featured this week include:

• Adverse safety events in emergency medical services care of children with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
• Responding to medical errors — implementing the modern ethical paradigm.
• The process and perspective of serious incident investigations in adult community mental health services: integrative review and synthesis.

New Report Finds Frameworks for Respectful Maternity Care, but Definitions Vary

Respectful maternity care is a well-described, rational approach for improving person-centered and equitable intrapartum and postpartum care, but it lacks a standard definition and clear measurement method, according to a new AHRQ evidence review. Researchers reviewed existing literature for definitions and valid measurements of respectful maternity care, its effectiveness for improving maternal and infant health outcomes, and strategies for implementation.  They found that tools to measure respectful maternity care demonstrate consistency but lack a gold standard, requiring further evaluation before implementation in U.S. settings. This work is important because severe maternal morbidity and mortality is worse in the United States than in all comparable countries, with the greatest impact on Black women. Access the evidence review (PDF, 2 MB) and the abstract to an associated article published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Comments Due March 4 on Quality Indicators Measure for Severe Maternal Morbidity

A new Request for Information issued by AHRQ seeks public comments on the usability, feasibility and likely uptake of a measure of severe maternal morbidity. The measure would be validated, refined and maintained by the agency’s Quality Indicators (QI) program, which maintains inpatient quality indicators and patient safety indicators, several of which are relevant to maternal healthcare. The RFI supports the first goal of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, and would strengthen data collection used for maternal health service improvements. The comment period closes on March 4 and comments should be sent to askahrq@ahrq.hhs.gov. 

Now Available: Proceedings From Workshop on Healthcare Disparities

Proceedings published from a National Academies workshop address the current state of racial and ethnic healthcare disparities in the United States. Speakers at the event, sponsored by AHRQ and the National Institutes of Health, highlighted major drivers of healthcare disparities, provided insight into successful and unsuccessful interventions, identified gaps in the evidence base and proposed strategies to close those gaps, and considered ways to scale and spread effective interventions to reduce racial and ethnic inequities in healthcare. This workshop series is part of an ongoing consensus study examining racial and ethnic healthcare disparities in the United States. Access the workshop proceedings.

Additional Results Available for AHRQ’s Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® Hospital Workplace Safety

A new appendix from AHRQ’s 2022 Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® (SOPS®) Hospital Workplace Safety Supplemental Item Set provides composite measure and item scores by job satisfaction, intent to leave, tenure in unit/work area and interaction with patients. The supplemental item set was designed for use with the core SOPS Hospital Survey to help hospitals assess the extent to which their organization's culture supports workplace safety for providers and staff. One highlight of the appendix shows that 72 percent of providers and staff who were dissatisfied with their job reported symptoms of burnout compared with only 23 percent of those who were satisfied with their job. For questions about the SOPS Databases, email DatabasesOnSafetyCulture@westat.com or call 1-888-324-9790.

AHRQ To Host Virtual Software Developers Meeting on the Common Formats for Patient Safety Data Collection

AHRQ will host a virtual software developers meeting on March 7, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET, to discuss implementation of the Common Formats for patient safety data collection. Agenda topics include recent enhancement to the Network of Patient Safety Databases dashboards and data submission to the Patient Safety Organization Privacy Protection Center. Active participation and discussion by meeting participants is encouraged. Learn more and register.

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• Technical Brief (draft open for comment): Healthcare Industry Waste and Use of Life Cycle Assessment.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

The promise and peril of knowledge translation for food allergy prevention. Shaker MS, Abrams EM, Mack DP, et al. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2023 Nov;131(5):544-6. Epub 2023 Aug 29. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

No health without access: using a retrospective cohort to model a care continuum for people released from prison at an urban, safety net health system. Frank M, Loh R, Everhart R, et al. Health Justice 2023 Nov 18;11(1):49. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Interruptions in insurance coverage and prescription drug utilization: evidence from Kentucky. Meille G. Med Care Res Rev 2023 Dec 7. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Characterizing infection prevention programs and urinary tract infection prevention practices in nursing homes: a mixed-methods study. Jones KM, Krein SL, Mantey J, et al. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2024 Jan;45(1):40-7. Epub 2023 Aug 17. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Impact of reducing time-to-antibiotics on sepsis mortality, antibiotic use, and adverse events. Donnelly JP, Seelye SM, Kipnis P, et al. Ann Am Thorac Soc 2024 Jan;21(1):94-101. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Deep learning prediction of hospital readmissions for asthma and COPD. Lopez K, Li H, Lipkin-Moore Z, et al. Respir Res 2023 Dec 13;24(1):311. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Learning from patients: the impact of using patients' narratives on patient experience scores. Nembhard IM, Matta S, Shaller D, et al. Health Care Manage Rev 2024 Jan-Mar;49(1):2-13. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Changes in care associated with integrating Medicare and Medicaid for dual-eligible individuals. Roberts ET, Xue L, Lovelace J, et al. JAMA Health Forum 2023 Dec;4(12):e234583. Access the abstract on PubMed®.