Section 1: Publishing Style (continued)
Samples
Headings
These sample headings are for word-processed documents only. Examples follow each bulleted entry.
- Chapter headings are 18 point Helvetica or Arial, bold, flush left, initial caps.
Chapter 1. Introduction
- Level 1 headings are 16 point Helvetica or Arial, bold, centered, initial caps.
Origins and Folklore of Garlic
- Level 2 headings are 14 point Helvetica or Arial, bold, flush left, initial caps.
Fresh Garlic and Condiments
- Level 3 headings are 12 point Times Roman, bold, run-in with a period, paragraph indent of .25, first word capitalized.
Dehydrated preparations. One of the most widely used forms of commercial garlic is garlic powder, which may or may not be enterically coated.
- Level 4 headings are 12 point Times Roman, italic, run-in with a period, paragraph indent of .25, first word capitalized.
Enterically coated preparations. A number of enterically coated preparations are available today.
Sample: Inside front cover for a final report
Disclaimer:
This report is based on research conducted by the Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center—RAND Corporation under contract to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Rockville, MD (Contract No. 282-00-0005-21). The findings and conclusions in this document are those of the author(s), who are responsible for its content, and do not necessarily represent the views of AHRQ. No statement in this report should be construed as an official position of AHRQ or of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The information in this report is intended to help clinicians, employers, policymakers, and others make informed decisions about the provision of health care services. This report is intended as a reference and not as a substitute for clinical judgment.
This report may be used, in whole or in part, as the basis for the development of clinical practice guidelines and other quality enhancement tools, or as a basis for reimbursement and coverage policies. AHRQ or U.S. Department of Health and Human Services endorsement of such derivative products may not be stated or implied. |
Note: If the document has been peer reviewed, the following statement must be added:
Peer reviewers' comments on a preliminary draft of this report were considered in preparation of this final report. Synthesis of the scientific literature presented here does not necessarily represent the view of individual reviewers.
Sample: Title page for a final report
Final Report
(10 Word Maximum)
Identifying, Categorizing, and Evaluating Health Care Efficiency Measures
Prepared for:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
www.ahrq.gov
(Funding Information:)
Contract No. 282-00-0005-21
Prepared by:
Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center—RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA
Principal Investigator:
Elizabeth A. McGlynn, Ph.D.
Evidence-based Practice Center Director:
Paul G. Shekelle, M.D., Ph.D.
Task Order Coordinator:
Susan Chen, B.A.
Economists:
Dana Goldman, Ph.D.
John Romley, Ph.D.
Content Experts:
Peter Hussey, Ph.D.
Han de Vries, M.Sc., M.Phil.
Margaret Wang, Ph.D. |
Programmer:
Martha Timmer, M.S.
Database Manager:
Jason Carter, B.A.
Staff Assistant:
Carlo Tringale, B.A
Librarian:
Roberta Shanman, M.S. |
Publication Number Provided by AHRQ:
AHRQ Publication No. 08-0030
April 2008
Sample: Back of title page
Public Domain Notice:
This document is in the public domain and may be used and reprinted without permission except those copyrighted materials that are clearly noted in the document. Further reproduction of those copyrighted materials is prohibited without the specific permission of copyright holders.
Suggested Citation:
McGlynn, EA. Identifying, Categorizing, and Evaluating Health Care Efficiency Measures. Final Report (Prepared by the Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center—RAND Corporation, under Contract No. 282-00-0005-21). AHRQ Publication No. 08-0030. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. April 2008.
Note: All authors are listed for Evidence-based Practice Reports; however, when citing a list of authors for other documents, list just the first three, followed by et al.
None of the investigators has any affiliations or financial involvement that conflicts with the material presented in this report. |
Sample Disclosure Statement shown above
Sample: Acknowledgments (optional)
Note: Keep acknowledgments to one page or move them to an appendix.
Acknowledgments
We thank Jonathan M. Links, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Trish M. Perl, M.D., M.Sc., Associate Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, for their valuable advice on this document.
Sample: Abstract
This abstract was developed as a sample template. See AMA's Manual of Style, pp. 20-24, on specifications for abstracts for various types of reports.
Structured Abstract
Objectives: To assess the efficacy and safety of medications and surgeries used for weight loss.
Data Sources: MEDLINE® and EMBASE. We also scanned the reference lists of recent extensive reviews and contacted experts.
Review Methods: Sibutramine, orlistat, fluoxetine, phentermine, and diethylpropion; bupropion, zonisamide, topiramate, and sertraline; and bariatric surgery were evaluated. Outcomes of interest were weight loss and adverse events. Quality was assessed using the Jadad summary score. Meta-analyses with sensitivity analyses were performed on six month and one year follow up weight loss and adverse event data. Pooled mean weight loss, peri-operative mortality rate, and post-operative mortality rate were calculated for each surgical procedure.
Results: Sibutramine produced a weight loss of 3.43 kg at 6 months and 4.45 kg at 12 months. Adverse events included modest increases in heart rate and blood pressure Orlistat produced a weight loss of 2.51 kg at 6 months and 2.75 kg at 12 months. Adverse events include diarrhea, flatulence, and bloating/ abdominal pain/dyspepsia compared to placebo, with relative risks (RR) of 3.4, 3.1, and 1.5, respectively. Subjects treated with phentermine lost 3.6 kg at 6 months, while subjects treated with diethylpropion lost 3.0 kg. Side effects or adverse-event data were not reported. Fluoxetine studies showed a weight loss of 4.74 kg at 6 months and 3.05 kg at 12 months. Adverse events include nervousness/sweating/tremors, nausea/vomiting, fatigue/asthenia/hypersomnia/ somnolence, insomnia, and diarrhea compared to placebo, with RR of 6.4, 2.7, 2.4, 2.0, and 1.7, respectively. Buproprion resulted in 2.8 kg at 6 to 12 months, and causes dry mouth (RR = 2.99) and insomnia. At 6 months topiramate resulted in 6.5 percent of pretreatment weight lost. Parasthesias (RR = 4.9) and taste perversion (RR = 9.2) were side effects. We found single studies for zonisamide and sertraline. Surgery in individuals with a BMI of 40 kg/m2 or greater resulted in a 20 to 30 kg weight loss, maintained up to 8 years. For patients with a BMI between 35 and 40 kg/m2, the data are not conclusive. Bariatric surgical procedures have been performed with a postoperative mortality rate of less than 1 percent. Laparoscopic procedures result in fewer wound complications or incisional hernias than open procedures.
Conclusions: Sibutramine, orlistat, phentermine, diethylpropion (probably), bupropion, fluoxetine, and topiramate promote weight loss of less than 5 kg at one year, which may be clinically significant. No evidence indicates that any drug promotes more weight loss than another, and all have side effects. Surgical treatment is more effective than nonsurgical treatment for weight loss in patients with a BMI of 40 kg/m2 or greater but is associated with a substantial number of complications and adverse events, although most are minor. Data regarding pharmaceutical or surgical treatment of adolescent and pediatric patients is lacking.
Sample: Contents
Contents
Executive Summary .................................................................................................................
Chapter 1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................
Risk Factors .........................................................................................................................
Key Questions .....................................................................................................................
Uses of This Report ...........................................................................................................
Chapter 2. Methods
Literature Review Methods ................................................................................................
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria ....................................................................................
Literature Search and Retrieval Process .....................................................................
Literature Synthesis ............................................................................................................
Development of Evidence Tables and Data Abstraction Process...........................
Quality Rating of Individual Studies ..............................................................................
Strength of Available Evidence ......................................................................................
Chapter 3. Results ..................................................................................................................
Chapter 4. Discussion ...........................................................................................................
References and Included Studies .......................................................................................
List of Acronyms/Abbreviations ............................................................................................
Figures
Figure 1: Figure Name ............................................................................................................
Tables
Table 1: Table Name ..............................................................................................................
Appendixes
Appendix A: Exact Search Strings .........................................................................................
Appendix B: Sample Data Abstraction Forms ...................................................................
Appendix C: Evidence Tables ...............................................................................................
Appendix D: List of Excluded Studies ..................................................................................
Appendix E: Peer Reviewers .................................................................................................
Example: Chapter opening
Chapter 1. Introduction
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) outlined six aims for the 21st-century health system in Crossing the Quality Chasm: health care should be safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable.3 In a subsequent IOM report providing the basis for the National Healthcare Quality Report,4 a matrix is provided for categorizing quality measures in five of those domains. Efficiency was not included in the matrix because it was judged to fall outside of the scope of the Quality Report and because of the "considerable methodological and measurement issues involved."4
Since the publication of the IOM reports, there has been substantial progress in measuring and reporting progress in health care quality. The National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report present current performance in the areas of effectiveness, patient centeredness, safety, timeliness, and equity. Many other groups, such as accrediting bodies (NCQA, JCAHO), government agencies (AHRQ, CMS), public-private alliances (Leapfrog, AQA, National Quality Forum, AMA Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement), and various research groups have also made a great deal of progress in defining and measuring various domains of health care quality. The measurement of efficiency has lagged behind. There are a variety of definitions of efficiency currently in use and these different meanings for the same word drive some of the confusion among stakeholders about the adequacy or desirability of alternative measures of efficiency. In the table below, we show some of the definitions that have been used.
Table 1. Definitions of efficiency
| Entity |
Definition |
| IOM (2001a) |
Avoiding waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy. |
| Palmer & Torgerson, 1999 |
Health care resources are being used to get the best value for money. |
| Economic theory |
Technical efficiency means that the same level of the output cannot be produced with fewer of the inputs. |
| Economic theory |
Productive efficiency refers to the maximization of output for a given cost, or minimization of cost for a given output. |
| Economic theory |
Social (or Pareto) efficiency exists when no one can be made better off without making someone else worse off. |
| AQA |
A measure of the relationship of the cost of care associated with a specific level of performance measured with respect to the other five IOM aims of quality. |
| GAO |
Providing and ordering a level of services that is sufficient to meet patients' health care needs, but not excessive, given a patient's health status. |
| MedPAC |
Using fewer inputs to get the same or better outcomes. Efficiency combines concepts of resource use and quality. |
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Type Specifications for Desktop Published Products
Periodically contractors are asked to submit materials to AHRQ for publication as final, typeset (desktop published) products. Please ask for samples of AHRQ products (i.e., fact sheets, brochures, DVDs, booklets) to gain a clear understanding of design concepts used at AHRQ.
Font sizes and graphics must be appropriate for the audience and culture. Do not use stylized fonts. Many programs have an established "family of products" design that use colors and design elements that tie them together with a common theme. Please ask if your product is part of a larger program.
If stock photographs are used, they must be purchased for AHRQ use.
Federal regulations recommend limiting ink colors. For reports, use no more than two colors on the cover and black text inside. For consumer, promotional, and other types of products, use no more than two colors. There are exceptions, as some materials may require additional colors. Please discuss your requirements with the OCKT managing editor assigned to the product.
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File Submission
Reports submitted as final camera-ready copy
- If the contract stipulates that you are to deliver your report as final, camera-ready copy, submit the entire report single-spaced in hard copy. The contract will specify the number of copies of the final report that should be delivered. Do not bind the final report.
- Submit a disk or CD of the entire final report as it appears in hard copy, saved as a Microsoft® Word file. PDF files are not acceptable submissions.
- Include the title page, citation, preface, and acknowledgments in one document called "front matter." Name the remaining files separately, indicating what they are (i.e., structured abstract, table of contents, executive summary, chapter number, evidence table number, appendix number, or references).
Text figures and text tables can be either placed in the chapter near their call outs or included at the end of each chapter. If they are placed at the end of the chapter, provide the table or figure number in the title.
OCKT staff will open the electronic files for final, camera-ready submissions to make a cursory check for agreement between the content of the manuscript and the electronic file. Intuitive file names enable staff to ensure the submission is complete.
- AHRQ will add minimal front matter information to the reports, including the Agency logo, publication number, and date.
- Paginate the report consecutively, according to the table of contents, with the exception of the appendixes, which should be numbered independent of the report, such as A-1, A-2.
- "Delink" all databases (such as Endnote) from the final electronic files. Ensure that any data that would be pulled from a database is included in the final submission. Endnote can generate a final standalone reference list. In addition, make sure any other internal or external links are deactivated.
- Include with your submission a copy of permissions you received to use copyrighted material. Be sure that all copyrighted material includes attribution to source (go to Appendix 1-A.)
Reports submitted as a final manuscript or peer review copy
Note: Grant Final Progress Reports must be submitted in accordance with instructions in Appendix 1-C.
- If your contract stipulates that you are to deliver your report as a final manuscript or peer review copy, submit the entire report double-spaced in hard copy. Do not bind the final manuscript. If binding the deliverable in a certain format is essential to the usefulness of the product, submit one bound sample for AHRQ to use in developing formatted products and submit the remaining copies unbound.
- Submit a disk or CD of the entire final report as it appears in hard copy, saved as a Microsoft® Word file. PDF files are not acceptable submissions.
- Include the title page, citation preface, and acknowledgments in one document called "front matter." Name the remaining files separately, indicating what they are (i.e., structured abstract, table of contents, executive summary, chapter number, evidence table number, appendix number, references).
Text figures and text tables can either be placed in the chapter near their call outs or included at the end of each chapter. If they are placed at the end of the chapter, provide the table or figure number in the title.
Save tables in tabbed text format rather than in cells. If the tables have been created in another software package and pasted into a word processing program, save the individual table files separately as tabbed text.
- AHRQ will add minimal front matter information to the reports, including the Agency logo, publication number, and date.
- Paginate the report consecutively, according to the table of contents, with the exception of the appendixes, which should be numbered independent of the report, such as A-1, A-2.
- "Delink" all databases (such as Endnote) from the final electronic files. Ensure that any data that would be pulled from a database is included in the final submission. Endnote can generate a final standalone reference list.
- Check all reports for copyrighted materials. Include with the final report a copy of any permissions you received to use copyrighted material. Be sure that all copyrighted material includes attribution to source. (Go to Appendix 1-A.)
Print-ready products submitted for offset printing
- If submitting print-ready files, save them in their native page layout formats (i.e., Quark Xpress or Adobe® InDesign). Microsoft® Word, Excel, and PowerPoint® files are not considered print-ready formats and cannot be used for offset printing.
- Submit graphic and font files on a CD, along with a printout. If accompanying graphic files (eps or tif) include text, convert the graphics to outlines prior to saving the files.
- Send a color printout of the document at actual size, including folioed pages, as well as documentation indicating the versions of software used, computer platform (Mac or PC), ink colors (Pantone or CMYK), number of pages, contact person, and other relevant information. GPO Form 952 provides an easy way to convey this information. It is available for download at http://www.gpo.gov/forms/pdfs/952.pdf. [Plugin Software Help]
DVD or CD products
If the contract stipulates that your final product will be a DVD or a CD, you must consult with your managing editor to determine the file format for any multimedia product you submit. If your final product will be a DVD or a CD, you must provide system requirements and directions for accessing the product. An example follows:
System requirements
This DVD can be played in stand-alone DVD players and on Mac® and personal computers with DVD drives. The minimum hardware and software requirements for viewing the DVD on a PC or a Mac® are:
Processor: 667 MHz Intel® Pentium® III processor or equivalent
Memory: 128 MB RAM
Screen Resolution: 800 x 600
Color: 16-bit
Sound card: 16-bit sound card and speakers
Peripherals: DVD drive
Directions for use
The DVD is designed to start automatically when it is inserted into any stand-alone DVD player or computer with a DVD drive. If it doesn't:
For DVD Player: Press the Play button for the video to begin.
For Windows® PC: Open Internet Explorer, select your DVD drive, and double click Play.
For Mac®: Double click on the icon to open the disk in the Finder and then double click on the file.
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Additional Information
To discuss specific issues or to obtain additional guidance on publishing style specifications, contact:
Randie Siegel
Associate Director
Office of Communications and
Knowledge Transfer
E-mail: randie.siegel@ahrq.hhs.gov
Phone: 301-427-1852
Sandy Cummings
Deputy Director Operations/Publishing
Office of Communications and
Knowledge Transfer
E-mail: sandra.cummings@ahrq.hhs.gov
Phone: 301-427-1893
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540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850 