Making the Right Thing the Easy Thing To Do

This weekly compilation of articles appearing in recently released journals and newsletters includes:

• Articles funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) or authored by AHRQ researchers.
• Articles mentioning or discussing AHRQ staff, activities, and publications/products.
• Articles related to AHRQ-funded Evidence-based Practice Centers.
• Articles related to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force or Put Prevention into Practice program.
• Articles mentioning the National Healthcare Disparities Report and National Healthcare Quality Report.
• Other research using AHRQ data or products.

AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles

AARC Times
Clancy CM. Making the right thing the easy thing to do. AARC Times 2011 Feb; 35(2):36-42. [Author is AHRQ director; synopsizes keynote address given at the 56th AARC International Respiratory Congress in December, 2010.]

Academic Pediatrics
Dougherty D, Schiff J, Mangione-Smith R. The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act quality measures initiatives: moving forward to improve measurement, care, and child and adolescent outcomes. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S1-S10. [First author is a researcher in AHRQ's Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations and editor of special supplement on the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act Quality Measures Initiatives, an overview of which is presented in this article; cites AHRQ's National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR).] Select to access the abstract.

Mangione-Smith R, Schiff J, Dougherty D. Identifying children's health care quality measures for Medicaid and CHIP: an evidence-informed, publicly transparent expert process. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S11-21. [Third author is a researcher in AHRQ's Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations and editor of special supplement on the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) Quality Measures Initiatives; describes the formation of the AHRQ National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality Subcommittee on Children's Healthcare Quality Measures for Medicaid and CHIP Programs (SNAC) and AHRQ's implementation of a quality measure nomination process.] Select to access the abstract.

Bethell CD, Kogan MD, Strickland BB. A national and state profile of leading health problems and health care quality for US children: key insurance disparities and across-state variations. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S22-S33. [Supported by contract HHSP2332009008001P and based on a previous report prepared under this contract.] Select to access the abstract.

Kenney GM, Pelletier JE. Monitoring duration of coverage in Medicaid and CHIP to assess program performance and quality. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S34-S41. [Supported by contract HHSP233200900785P; cites several AHRQ reports on the CHIPRA quality measures initiative.] Select to access the abstract.

Kuhlthau KA. Measures of availability of health care services for children. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S42-S48. [Supported by contract HHS0P0233200900701P and commissioned by the AHRQ SNAC; summarizes work done under the contract, including use of AHRQ's National Quality Measures Clearinghouse™ (NQMC) and Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) to identify measures; cites AHRQ's NHQR and NHDR, 2009.] Select to access the abstract.

Sternberg SB, Co JP Homer CJ. Review of quality measures of the most integrated health care settings for children and the need for improved measures: recommendations for initial core measurement set for CHIPRA. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S49-S58. [Supported by contract HHS0233200900799P and prepared by the National Initiative for Children's Health Quality; uses AHRQ's NQMC to identify relevant measures; describes and analyzes AHRQ's CAHPS® Health Plan Survey and makes comparisons with similar instruments.] Select to access the abstract.

Co JP, Sternberg SB, Homer CJ. Measuring patient and family experiences of health care for children. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S59-67. [Supported by contract HHS0P0233200900801P; uses AHRQ's NQMC to identify relevant measures; describes and analyzes AHRQ's CAHPS® Health Plan Survey, with focus on the CAHPS® Child Medicaid Health Plan and CAHPS® Child Clinician & Group Surveys.] Select to access the abstract.

deLone SE, Hess CA. Medicaid and CHIP children's healthcare quality measures: what states use and what they want. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S68-S76. [Supported by contracts HHS0P0233200900802P and and HHSP233200900781P.] Select to access the abstract.

Dougherty D, Clancy C. Transforming children's health care quality and outcomes—a not-so-random non-linear walk across the translational continuum. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S91-4. [Authors are a researcher in AHRQ's Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations and the AHRQ director, respectively; mentions and cites the AHRQ-sponsored US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) programs.]

American Journal of Infection Control
Day HR, Morgan DJ, Himelhoch S, et al. Association between depression and contact precautions in veterans at hospital admission. Am J Infect Control 2011 Mar; 39(2):163-5. [Supported by grant 1 K08 HS18111-01 (to second author).] Select to access the abstract.

Anesthesia and Analgesics
Glance LG, Neuman M, Martinez EA, et al. Performance measurement at a "tipping point". Anesth Analg 2011 Apr;112(4):958-66. [Supported by grants R01 HS16737 (to first author) and K08 HS13904 (to third author).] Select to access the abstract.

Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology
Patil SP, Wisnivesky JP, Busse PJ, et al. Detection of immunological biomarkers correlated with asthma control and quality of life measurements in sera from chronic asthmatic patients. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2011 Mar; 106(3):205-13. [Supported by grant K08 HS13312-01A1 (to second author).] Select to access the abstract.

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Vashi A, Rhodes KV. 'sign right here and you're good to go":a content analysis of audiotaped emergency department discharge instructions. Ann Emerg Med 2011 Apr; 57(4):315-22. [Supported by grant R01 HS11096.] Select to access the abstract.

Annals of Noninvasive Electrocardiology
Al-Khatib SM, Sanders GD, O'Brien SM, et al. Do physicians' attitudes toward implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy vary by patient age, gender, or race? Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol 2011 Jan; 16(1):77-84. [Supported by grant 1 U18 HS16964.] Select to access the abstract.

CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal
Kesselheim AS. Covert pharmaceutical promotion in free medical journals. CMAJ 2011 Mar 22; 183(5):534-5. [Supported by Career Development Award grant K08 HS18465-01.] Select to access the abstract.

Health Affairs
Arora S, Kalishman S, Dion D, et al. Partnering urban academic medical centers and rural primary care clinicians to provide complex chronic disease care. Health Aff 2011 May 19. [Epub ahead of print. Supported by grants 5 UC1 HS15135 and 1 R24 HS16510, and 1 R18 HS18171.] Select to access the abstract.

Health Services Research
Liu FX, Alexander GC, Crawford SY, et al. The impact of Medicare Part D on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, medication utilization, health resource utilization, and preference-based health
utility. Health Serv Res 2011 May 24. [Epub ahead of print. Supported by K08 HS15699-01A1, based on doctoral thesis by second author at the University of Illinois at Chicago; uses 2005-2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data (Panels 8-10); cites AHRQ publications, Computing Standard Errors for MEPS Estimates, 2005, Survey Components, 2008, and Using Appropriate Price Indices for Expenditure Comparisons, 2009, all as published on AHRQ's MEPS Web site.] Select to access the abstract.

Heart
Peterson ED, Roe MT, Chen AY, Fonarow GC, et al. The NCDR ACTION Registry-GWTG: transforming contemporary acute myocardial infarction clinical care. Heart 2010 Nov;96(22):1798-802. [Supported by grant U18 HS16964.] Select to access the abstract.

International Journal of the Economics of Business
Mutter RL, Romano PS, Wong HS. The effects of US hospital consolidations on hospital quality. Int J Econ Bus 2011 Feb; 18(1):109-26. [First and third authors are researchers in AHRQ's Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets; uses 1997-2002 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) State Inpatient Databases (SID) data from 16 states, AHRQ's Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQI) and Patient Safety Indicators (PSI) and associates software programs, and AHRQ's Elixhauser comorbidity measures; cites AHRQ technical review, Measures of Patient Safety Based on Hospital Administrative Data—the Patient Safety Indicators, 2002, prepared by the University of California-Stanford EPC under contract 290-07-0013.]

Journal of Hospital Medicine
Fieldston ES, Hall M, Shah SS, Hain PD, Sills MR, et al. Addressing inpatient crowding by smoothing occupancy at children's hospitals. J Hosp Med 2011 May 24. [Epub ahead of print. Supported by grant 5 R03 HS16418 (to fifth author; uses AHRQ's HCUP Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) data to standardize the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) data for proportion of scheduled admissions.] Select to access the abstract.

Journal of the National Medical Association
Howard DL, Kim M, Hartnett ME . Predicting glaucoma diagnosis in an elderly sample: revisiting the established populations for epidemiologic studies of the elderly. J Natl Med Assoc 2011 Apr; 103(4):332-41. [Supported by grant R24 HS013353.]

Medical Decision Making
Peek ME, Tang H, Cargill A, et al. Are there racial differences in patients' shared decision-making preferences and behaviors among patients with diabetes? Med Decis Making 2011 May-Jun; 31(3):422-31. [Supported by grant R01 HS10479.] Select to access the abstract.

Nutrition Research
Williams CD, Whitley BM, Hoyo C, et al. A high ratio of dietary n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids is associated with increased risk of prostate cancer. Nutr Res 2011 Jan;31(1):1-8. [Supported by grant T32 HS00079.] Select to access the abstract.

Surgical Clinics of North America
Shelton J, Jackson GP. Palliative care and pediatric surgery. Surg Clin North Am 2011 Apr; 91(2):419-28. [Supported by grant T32 HS13833.] Select to access the abstract.

AHRQ-Related Articles

Academic Pediatrics
Stein RE. A measured approach to child health. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3):240-6. [Mentions AHRQ funding of Pediatric Healthcare Quality Measures Program Centers of Excellence U19 cooperative agreements focusing "on the development of new measures of child health under" the CHIPRA initiatives.] Select to access the abstract.

Fairbrother G, Simpson LA. Measuring and reporting quality of health care for children: CHIPRA and beyond. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S77-S84. [Second author is former AHRQ deputy administrator; discusses implementation of CHIPRA provisions related to child quality measures by AHRQ and CMS; recommends that AHRQ and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) establish a Child Quality Corps to "train the workforce needed to meaningfully use measures and make these measures available to states on 1- or 2-year assignments" and that data supporting core measures be put into a national data structure, such as HCUP or CAHPS®; cites AHRQ publications, Initial Core Set of Children's Healthcare Quality Measures, 2009, and Request for Public Comment on Initial, Recommended Core Set of Children's Healthcare Quality Measures for Voluntary Use by Medicaid and CHIP Programs, 2009.] Select to access the abstract.

Palfrey JS, Brei TJ. Children's health care providers and health care quality measurement. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S87-S88. [Describes the formation of the AHRQ National Advisory Council SNAC and AHRQ's implementation of a quality measure nomination and selection process.]

Greene-McIntyre M, Caldwell C. State Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program's perspective on CHIPRA core measures. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S89-S90. [Discusses the development of the CHIPRA core set of quality measures and the work of the SNAC; acknowledges assistance from AHRQ researcher and supplement editor Denise Dougherty.]

Mann C. A new era for state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S95-S96. [Mentions the establishment of the initial set of child health quality measures under CHIPRA and the development of new measures under the AHRQ-sponsored National Pediatric Quality Measures Program of grants and contracts.]

American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Knox GE, Simpson KR. Perinatal high reliability. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2011 May; 204(5):373-7. [Discusses five key concepts essential for successful patient safety initiatives described in AHRQ publication, Becoming a High Reliability Organization: Operational Advice for Hospital Leaders, 2008; cites AHRQ-funded articles by Pronovost et al. (Health Serv Res, 2006) and Sexton et al. (Anesthesiology, 2006).] Select to access the abstract.

Archives of Internal Medicine
Kahn JM. Intensive care unit telemedicine: promises and pitfalls. Arch Intern Med 2011 Mar 28; 171(6):495-6. [Notes that author is a coinvestigator supported by conference grant R13 HS19946 "to determine a research agenda for ICU telemedicine."]

Circulation
Bufalino VJ, Masoudi FA, Stranne SK, et al. The American Heart Association's recommendations for expanding the applications of existing and future clinical registries: a policy statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation 2011 May 17; 123(19):2167-79. Briefly summarizes the contents and coverage of AHRQ publication, Registries for Evaluating Patient Outcomes: A User's Guide, 2nd ed., 2010 (prepared by the Outcome DEcIDE Center under contract HHSA290200510351-TO3), and highlights five of the guide's tables in the Appendix; notes that AHRQ and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute "have solicited applications for funding for comparative effectiveness research and for the infrastructure to support such investigation;" notes receipt of previous AHRQ grant support by three of the authors.]

International Journal of the Economics of Business
Town R. The effects of US hospital consolidations on hospital quality: a comment. Int J Econ Bus 2011 Feb; 18(1):127-31. [Comments on article by Mutter, Romano, and Wong (Int J Econ Bus, 2011) cited in AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles.]

Medical Decision Making
Helfand M. Independence and Medical Decision Making. Med Decis Making 2011 May-Jun; 31(3):373-75. [Includes table that lists three special issues of the journal sponsored by AHRQ since 2005.]

Modern Healthcare
Daly R. Helping hand or big fist? Mod Healthc 2011 May 23; 41(21):22-3. [Quotes remarks by Michael Hagan, researcher in AHRQ's Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets).]

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)/Put Prevention Into Practice (PPIP)-Related Articles

American Family Physician
CME quiz. Am Fam Physician 2011 May 15; 83(10):1153-5. [Includes questions based on USPSTF recommendations on screening for family and intimate partner violence, screening for speech and language delay in preschool children, and screening for osteoporosis (as discussed in the next three articles cited below in this section.]

Cronholm PF, Fogarty CT, Ambuel B, et al. Intimate partner violence. Am Fam Physician 2011 May 15; 83(10):1165-72. [Cites USPSTF recommendations on screening for family and intimate partner violence (Ann Intern Med, 2004).] Select to access the abstract.

McLaughlin MR. Speech and language delay in children. Am Fam Physician 2011 May 15; 83(10):1183-8. [Cites USPSTF recommendation statement, Screening for Speech and Language Delay in Preschool Children, 2006.] Select to access the abstract.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for osteoporosis: recommendation statement. Am Fam Physician 2011 May 15; 83(10):1197-200. [Summarizes USPSTF recommendation statement, Screening for Osteoporosis, 2011, as published on the USPSTF Web site; cites USPSTF-sponsored evidence update on screening for osteoporosis (Ann Intern Med, 2010) and AHRQ evidence synthesis, Screening for Osteoporosis: Systematic Review to Update the 2002 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation, 2010.]

Croswell J. Screening for osteoporosis. Am Fam Physician 2011 May 15; 83(10):1201-2. [Author is a medical officer supporting the USPSTF program at AHRQ; uses USPSTF recommendations on screening for osteoporosis (see USPSTF article cited above in this section) as the basis for the case study and associated questions.]

Journal of the National Medical Association
Zhou J, Enewold L, Peoples GE, et al. Colorectal, prostate, and skin cancer screening among Hispanic and white non-Hispanic men, 2000-2005. J Natl Med Assoc 2011 Apr; 103(4):343-50. [Cites USPSTF recommendations on screening for colorectal cancer in adults at average risk (Ann Intern Med, 2002), USPSTF-sponsored evidence update on screening for skin cancer by Wolff et al. (Ann Intern Med, 2009), USPSTF evidence update on the benefits and harms of prostate-specific antigen screening for prostate cancer by Lin K et al. (Ann Intern Med, 2008), and USPSTF recommendations on screening for prostate cancer (Ann Intern Med, 2002).]

Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology
Popovic M, Puchner S, Berzaczy D, et al. Uterine artery embolization for the treatment of adenomyosis: a review. J Vasc Interv Radiol 2011 May 11. [Epub ahead of print. Uses USPSTF evidence rating criteria to evaluate selected studies, citing USPSTF publications, Grade Definitions, 2008, and Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, 1996.] Select to access the abstract.

MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Prevalence of obesity among adults with arthritis—United States, 2003-2009. MMWR Morbid Mortal Wkly Rep 2011 Apr 29; 60(16):509-13. [Mentions that USPSTF recommendations "include screening and intensive counseling (one or more sessions per month for at least 3 months), plus behavioral interventions for all obese adults."] Select to access the abstract.

Pain Physician
Hayek SM, Deer TR, Pope JE, et al. Intrathecal therapy for cancer and non-cancer pain. Pain Physician 2011 May;14(3):219-48. [Uses USPSTF evidence rating criteria to evaluate selected studies, citing USPSTF-sponsored article by Harris et al. (Am J Prev Med, 2001) on USPSTF methodologies and AHRQ Evidence Report/Technology Assessment, Systems to Rate the Strength of Scientific Evidence, 2002.] Select to access the abstract.

Rural and Remote Health
McCall-Hosenfeld JS, Weisman CS. Receipt of preventive counseling among reproductive women in rural and urban communities. Rural Remote Health 2011 Jan-Mar; 11(1):1617. Online. [Uses measures of preventive counseling for tobacco use, alcohol misuse, effective contraception, and weight loss based on USPSTF recommendations as of 2004, citing the USPSTF Web site. Also refer to articles by Dougherty and Clancy (Acad Ped, 2011) cited in AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles and by Manchikanti et al. (Pain Physician, 2011) cited in Evidence-based Practice Centers-Related Articles.]

Evidence-based Practice Centers-Related Articles

Academic Pediatrics
Perrin JM, Dewitt TG. Future of academic general pediatrics—areas of opportunity. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3):181-8. [Briefly discusses AHRQ's EPC program and its "attention to quality of evidence" and "working to systematize the development and review of evidence;" cites AHRQ publications, National Health Care Expenses in the U.S. Civilian Non-Institutionalized Population, 2007, MEPS Statistical Brief 272, 2009, and Trends in Health Care Expenditures for Children Under Age 18: 2006 Versus 1996, MEPS Statistical Brief 253, 2009; cites AHRQ-authored article by Forrest, Simpson, and Clancy (second and third authors are former AHRQ deputy director and current AHRQ director, respectively) (JAMA, 1997).

Breastfeeding Review
Edmunds J, Miles S, Fulbrook P. Tongue-tie and breastfeeding: a review of the literature. Breastfeed Rev 2011 Mar; 19(1):19-26. [Cites AHRQ Evidence Report/Technology Assessment, Breastfeeding and Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes in Developed Countries, 2007.] Select to access the abstract.

Pain Physician
Manchikanti L, Falco FJ, Benyamin RM, et al. The impact of comparative effectiveness research on interventional pain management: evolution from Medicare Modernization Act to Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Pain Physician 2011 May;14(3):E249-82. [Notes provisions under the Affordable Care Act that PCORI will "give preference to" AHRQ and NIH for contracts for the management and funding of comparative effectiveness research efforts; discusses AHRQ's previous clinical practice guidelines development program, National Guideline Clearinghouse, Effective Health Care Program (noting support by AHRQ's EPC program), and involvement in comparative effectiveness research programs; briefly discusses USPSTF updated 2009 recommendations on breast cancer screening. Also refer to articles by Dougherty and Clancy (Acad Ped, 2011) and Mutter, Romano, and Wong (Int J Econ Bus, 2011) cited in AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles.] Select to access the abstract.

National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR)/National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR)-Related Articles

Academic Pediatrics
Wells N, Partridge L. Families are key in improving quality. Acad Pediatr 2011 May-Jun;11(3 Suppl):S85-S86. [Mentions findings from AHRQ's NHDR, 2008, related to children's health disparities.]

Journal of Rehabilitation
Hampton NZ, Ordway A, Zhu Y. Access to health services: experiences of women with neurological disabilities. J Rehabil 2011 Apr; 77(2):3-11. [Cites AHRQ's NHDR, 2005, and cites AHRQ-authored article by Chevarley et al. (Womens Health Issues, 2006). Also refer to articles by Dougherty, Schiff, and Mangione-Smith (Acad Ped, 2011) and Kuhlthau (Acad Ped, 2011) cited in AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles.]

Research By Others Using AHRQ Data or Products

Archives of Surgery
Ricciardi R, Roberts PL, Read TE, et al. Mortality rate after nonelective hospital admission. Arch Surg 2011 May; 146(5):545-51. [Uses 2003-2007 HCUP Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) data, citing Overview of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample landing page on AHRQ's HCUP Web site.] Select to access the abstract.

Emerging Infectious Diseases
Streit JA, Yang M, Cavanaugh JE, et al. Upward trend in dengue incidence among hospitalized patients, United States. Emerg Infect Dis 2011 May; 17(5):914-16. [Uses 2000-2007 HCUP NIS data as published on AHRQ's HCUP Web site.] Select to access the abstract.

Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis
Ken-Dror G, Drenos F, Humphries SE, et al. Haplotype and genotype effects of the F7 gene on circulating factor VII, coagulation activation markers and incident coronary heart disease in UK men. J Thromb Haemost 2010 Nov; 8(11):2394-403. [Uses study cohort from the Whitehall II study, previously funded by AHRQ.] Select to access the abstract.

Medical Decision Making
Spaeder MC, Fackler JC. Time series model to predict burden of viral respiratory illness on a pediatric intensive care unit. Med Decis Making 2011 May-Jun; 31(3):494-9. [Cites 1988 HCUP NIS data on pediatric hospitalizations for infectious respiratory illnesses.] Select to access the abstract.

Stroke
Brinjikji W, Rabinstein AA, Kallmes DF, et al. Patient outcomes with endovascular embolectomy therapy for acute ischemic stroke: a study of the National Inpatient Sample: 2006 to 2008. Stroke 2011 Apr 14. [Epub ahead of print. Uses 2006-2008 HCUP NIS data. Also refer to articles by Kuhlthau (Acad Ped, 2011), Sternberg, Co, and Homer (Acad Ped, 2011), Co, Sternberg, and Homer (Acad Ped, 2011), Mutter, Romano, and Wong (Int J Econ Bus, 2011), and Fieldston et al. (J Hosp Med, 2011), all cited in AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles.] Select to access the abstract.