AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Meeting: An Opportunity to Connect, Engage and Inspire

AHRQ Stats: Demographics for Highest Healthcare Spenders

In 2019, hypertension and osteoarthritis/other nontraumatic joint disorders were the most commonly treated conditions among people in the top 5 percent of healthcare spenders. (Source: AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #540, Concentration of Healthcare Expenditures and Selected Characteristics of High Spenders, U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2019.)

Today's Headlines:

• AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Meeting: An Opportunity to Connect, Engage and Inspire.
• Medicaid Coverage Dropoff Significantly Impacts Access to Dental Care.
• Handbook Provides Tips for Primary Care Practices To Use Data To Improve Care.
• New Learning Modules in Spanish Available To Support Emotional Health of Nursing Home Staff.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Meeting: An Opportunity to Connect, Engage and Inspire

AHRQ’s role at AcademyHealth’s upcoming Annual Research Meeting (ARM) is the topic of a new AHRQ Views blog post by AHRQ Director Robert Otto Valdez, Ph.D., M.H.S.A. The meeting, which begins June 4 in Washington, D.C., is a premier event for health servicers researchers. Dr. Valdez, who will attend the meeting for the first time as AHRQ’s director, will moderate a session on June 5 at 8 a.m. titled “Can We Talk About Money?: Health Services Research and Health Economics.” Dr. Valdez will share his vision for AHRQ while leading panelists in a discussion about healthcare financing trends and efforts to advance health equity. Access the blog post to learn more about the meeting and other sessions and posters based on agency-support research. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address and select “AHRQ Views Blog.”

Medicaid Coverage Dropoff Significantly Impacts Access to Dental Care

Despite 47 states offering some form of dental coverage through Medicaid programs—one source of dental insurance for low-income Medicare beneficiaries—an AHRQ-funded review of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, published in Health Services Research, found that Medicare beneficiaries with modest incomes face substantial challenges accessing dental care. These challenges are amplified among beneficiaries whose incomes slightly exceed the income limits for Medicaid, but who may lack other affordable dental coverage, because Medicare does not cover dental care as a standard benefit. These Medicare beneficiaries face an abrupt dropoff, or “cliff” in dental coverage, which may impact their access to needed dental care. Medicare beneficiaries whose incomes exceeded Medicaid eligibility limits were 5 percentage points more likely to report difficulty accessing dental care due to cost concerns or a lack of insurance—a one-third increase over the proportion of beneficiaries below these limits reporting difficulty getting dental care. Expanding dental coverage for Medicare beneficiaries could close gaps in access that arise from the current lack of comprehensive dental coverage in Medicare—particularly among beneficiaries with modest incomes. Access the abstract.

Handbook Provides Tips for Primary Care Practices To Use Data To Improve Care

A new AHRQ handbook provides strategies for primary care practice coaches to support improved care through the use of health information technology (IT). Topics range from working with practices to use electronic health record (EHR) data in quality improvement to incorporating patient-generated data into quality measurement. The handbook focuses on guiding coaches as they help primary care practices collect and extract high-quality clinical data from EHRs to support quality improvement, practice transformation and efforts to implement new, evidenced-based clinical interventions. The new resource complements AHRQ’s Primary Care Practice Facilitation Curriculum and training modules, providing more in-depth training in the use of EHRs and other clinical data for quality improvement. Access the guide.

New Learning Modules in Spanish Available To Support Emotional Health of Nursing Home Staff

AHRQ has released Spanish translations of modules to help nursing home staff identify and manage emotions and stress. Each video module is self-paced and covers a specific topic: identifying and overcoming anxiety; recognizing and reducing stress; and using open communication to overcome stress. The modules explain the importance of addressing stress and provide strategies and techniques. A brief user guide, talking points and print materials for promoting them to staff are included. Access the new modules.

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:

• Adverse Events in Hospitals: A Quarter of Medicare Patients Experienced Harm in October 2018.
• Declaration to Advance Patient Safety.
• Defining diagnostic error: a scoping review to assess the impact of the National Academies' report Improving Diagnosis in Health Care.
• National improvements in resident physician-reported patient safety after limiting first-year resident physicians' extended duration work shifts: a pooled analysis of prospective cohort studies.

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).

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• Systematic review: Transitions of Care From Pediatric to Adult Services for Children With Special Healthcare Needs.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

The imperative to reimagine assisted living. Zimmerman S, Carder P, Schwartz L, et al. J Am Med Dir Assoc 2022 Feb;23(2):225-34. Epub 2021 Dec 31. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Parent report of sleep health and attention regulation in a cross-sectional study of infants and preschool-aged children with atopic dermatitis. Zhou NY, Nili A, Blackwell CK, et al. Pediatr Dermatol 2022 Jan;39(1):61-8. Epub 2021 Dec 21. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Unique patient-reported hospital safety concerns with online tool: MySafeCare. Schnock KO, Snyder JE, Gershanik E, et al. J Patient Saf 2022 Jan;18(1):e33-e39. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Validity of breast cancer surgery treatment information in a state-based cancer registry. Roberson ML, Nichols HB, Wheeler SB, et al. Cancer Causes Control 2022 Feb;33(2):261-9. Epub 2021 Nov 16. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Cardiovascular disease preventive services among smaller primary care practices. Marino M, Solberg L, Springer R, et al. Am J Prev Med 2022 May;62(5):e285-e295. Epub 2021 Dec 20. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Indication alerts to improve problem list documentation. Grauer A, Kneifati-Hayek J, Reuland B, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2022 Apr 13;29(5):909-17. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Racial/ethnic differences in pediatric emergency department wait times. Johnson TJ, Goyal MK, Lorch SA, et al. Pediatr Emerg Care 2022 Feb;38(2):e929-e935. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Longitudinal participation in delivery and payment reform programs among US primary care organizations. Adler-Milstein J, Linden A, Bernstein S, et al. Health Serv Res 2022 Feb;57(1):47-55. Epub 2021 Feb 28. Access the abstract on PubMed®.