National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
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Topics
- Adverse Events (1)
- Ambulatory Care and Surgery (1)
- Cancer (1)
- Cardiovascular Conditions (1)
- Caregiving (1)
- Children/Adolescents (2)
- Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) (2)
- Diagnostic Safety and Quality (1)
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- Education: Patient and Caregiver (1)
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- Home Healthcare (1)
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- Hospitals (11)
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- Long-Term Care (3)
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- Outcomes (2)
- Palliative Care (1)
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- Patient Experience (2)
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- Payment (2)
- Pneumonia (1)
- (-) Provider Performance (22)
- Public Reporting (3)
- Quality Improvement (6)
- (-) Quality Indicators (QIs) (22)
- Quality Measures (17)
- (-) Quality of Care (22)
- Racial and Ethnic Minorities (1)
- Respiratory Conditions (2)
- Sepsis (1)
- Shared Decision Making (1)
- Stroke (1)
- Surgery (2)
- Surveys on Patient Safety Culture (1)
AHRQ Research Studies
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Research Studies is a compilation of published research articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers.
Results
1 to 22 of 22 Research Studies DisplayedWaters TM, Burns N, Kaplan CM
Combined impact of medicare's hospital pay for performance programs on quality and safety outcomes is mixed.
The authors examined the combined impact of Medicare's pay for performance (P4P) programs on clinical areas and populations targeted by the programs, as well as those outside their focus. Using HCUP data, and consistent with previous studies for individual programs, they detected minimal, if any, effect of Medicare's hospital P4P programs on quality and safety. They recommended a redesigning of the P4P programs before continuing to expand them.
AHRQ-funded; HS025148.
Citation: Waters TM, Burns N, Kaplan CM .
Combined impact of medicare's hospital pay for performance programs on quality and safety outcomes is mixed.
BMC Health Serv Res 2022 Jul 28;22(1):958. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08348-w..
Keywords: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Medicare, Payment, Provider Performance, Hospitals, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Patient Safety
Konetzka RT, Davila H, Brauner DJ
The quality measures domain in Nursing Home Compare: is high performance meaningful or misleading?
The Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services publishes a Nursing Home Compare (NHC) web site that provides information to compare nursing homes across the nation. Since NHC began reporting the percent of nursing home residents suffering adverse outcomes, the negative outcomes decreased dramatically. However, the validity of scores has been questioned for nursing homes that score well on facility-reported measures but scored poorly on inspections. The study purpose was to determine whether nursing homes with these “discordant” scores are better than nursing homes that score poorly across all domains. The researchers analyzed national data from 2012- 2016, conducted in-depth interviews and observations of 12 nursing homes in 2017 to 2018, and studied nursing home performance trajectories over time. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized and interpreted together. The study found that facilities identified as discordant took part in more quality improvement (QI) activities than those identified as poor performers, but those QI activities were lower-resource improvements and not of the type and scope that would impact improvements across other quality domains. It was determined that the poor-performing facilities appeared to lack the leadership and staff continuity required for even low-resource improvements. The study concluded that while high performance on quality measures using facility-reported data is mostly meaningful, and the quality measures domain should continue to be utilized in Nursing Home Compare, facilities identified as discordant still have quality defects.
AHRQ-funded; HS024967.
Citation: Konetzka RT, Davila H, Brauner DJ .
The quality measures domain in Nursing Home Compare: is high performance meaningful or misleading?
Gerontologist 2022 Feb 9;62(2):293-303. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnab054..
Keywords: Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Provider Performance, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care
Schwartz ML, Rahman M, Thomas KS
Consumer selection and home health agency quality and patient experience stars.
The objective of this study was to compare the impact of the introduction of two distinct sets of star ratings, quality of care, and patient experience, on home health agency (HHA) selection. The investigators concluded that the introduction of quality of care and patient experience stars were associated with changes in HHA selection; however, the strength of these relationships was weaker than observed in other health care settings where a single star rating was reported.
AHRQ-funded; HS026440.
Citation: Schwartz ML, Rahman M, Thomas KS .
Consumer selection and home health agency quality and patient experience stars.
Health Serv Res 2022 Feb;57(1):113-24. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.13867..
Keywords: Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Home Healthcare, Patient Experience, Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Provider Performance, Quality Indicators (QIs)
Davila H, Shippee TP, Park YS
Inside the black box of improving on nursing home quality measures.
This qualitative study investigated how nursing homes (NHs) interact with quality measures (QMs) used by Nursing Home Compare (NHC) as part of its 5-star rating system. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 110 NH personnel and 23 NH provider association representatives. Observations of organizational processes in 12 NHs in three states were also done. The authors found that most NHs are working to improve the quality of care they provide, not merely to improve their QM scores. They also found limitations with the QMs, suggesting that the QMs on their own may not accurately reflect the quality of care that NHs provide. The findings suggest several changes to improve NHC.
AHRQ-funded; HS024967.
Citation: Davila H, Shippee TP, Park YS .
Inside the black box of improving on nursing home quality measures.
Med Care Res Rev 2021 Dec;78(6):758-70. doi: 10.1177/1077558720960326..
Keywords: Nursing Homes, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Provider Performance, Long-Term Care
Holmgren AJ, Kuznetsova M, Classen D
Assessing hospital electronic health record vendor performance across publicly reported quality measures.
The authors measured hospital performance, stratified by electronic health record (EHR) vendor, across 4 quality metrics. They found that no EHR vendor was associated with higher quality across all measures, and the 2 largest vendors were not associated with the highest scores. Only a small fraction of quality variation was explained by EHR vendor choice. They concluded that top performance on quality measures can be achieved with any EHR vendor, as much of quality performance is driven by the hospital and how it uses the EHR.
AHRQ-funded; HS023696.
Citation: Holmgren AJ, Kuznetsova M, Classen D .
Assessing hospital electronic health record vendor performance across publicly reported quality measures.
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2021 Sep 18;28(10):2101-07. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocab120..
Keywords: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Hospitals, Quality of Care, Provider Performance
Agniel D, Haviland A, Shekelle P
Distinguishing high-performing health systems using a composite of publicly reported measures of ambulatory care.
The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a measure that ranks health care systems by ambulatory care quality. The authors concluded that their measure, using publicly reported data to produce valid, reliable, and stable ranks of ambulatory care quality for health care systems in Minnesota and California, could also be used in other applications.
AHRQ-funded; HS024067.
Citation: Agniel D, Haviland A, Shekelle P .
Distinguishing high-performing health systems using a composite of publicly reported measures of ambulatory care.
Ann Intern Med 2020 Nov 17;173(10):791-98. doi: 10.7326/m20-0718..
Keywords: Health Systems, Ambulatory Care and Surgery, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Provider Performance, Healthcare Delivery
Jin B, Nembhard IM
Voluntary hospital reporting of performance in cancer care: does volume make a difference?
The authors hypothesized that patient volume is positively associated with both reporting and performance in cancer care. Studying 72 Pennsylvania hospitals accredited by the Commission on Cancer, they found that hospitals that publicly reported their performance had higher patient volumes than hospitals that did not release performance. Among reporting hospitals, no association was found between patient volume and performance on process of care metrics, suggesting that volume is not a predictor of performance for reporting hospitals. They recommended further research to identify other factors that differentiate performance within and across reporting and nonreporting hospitals.
AHRQ-funded; HS017589.
Citation: Jin B, Nembhard IM .
Voluntary hospital reporting of performance in cancer care: does volume make a difference?
J Healthc Qual 2020 Nov/Dec;42(6):e75-e82. doi: 10.1097/jhq.0000000000000225..
Keywords: Cancer, Provider Performance, Hospitals, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care
Colton K, Richards CT, Pruitt PB
Early stroke recognition and time-based emergency care performance metrics for intracerebral hemorrhage.
This study compared time for early stroke recognition for intracerebral hemorrhage for hospitals with and without stroke teams. An observational cohort study was conducted at an urban comprehensive stroke center from 2009 to 2017 with 204 cases included. Stroke team activation resulted in faster emergency care compared to no activation. This process resulted in shorter onset-to-arrival times, higher NIH Stroke Scale scores, and higher Glasgow Coma Scale scores.
AHRQ-funded; HS023437.
Citation: Colton K, Richards CT, Pruitt PB .
Early stroke recognition and time-based emergency care performance metrics for intracerebral hemorrhage.
J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis 2020 Feb;29(2):104552. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2019.104552..
Keywords: Stroke, Emergency Department, Provider Performance, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Quality Improvement, Quality Indicators (QIs), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Outcomes, Quality of Care, Evidence-Based Practice, Hospitals
Barbash IJ, Davis B, Kahn JM
National performance on the Medicare SEP-1 sepsis quality measure.
Researchers characterized national performance on the sepsis measure known as SEP-1. They found that the majority of eligible hospitals reported SEP-1 data, and overall bundle compliance was highly variable. Further, SEP-1 performance was associated with structural hospital characteristics and performance on other measures of hospital quality, providing preliminary support for SEP-1 performance as a marker of timely hospital sepsis care.
AHRQ-funded; HS025455.
Citation: Barbash IJ, Davis B, Kahn JM .
National performance on the Medicare SEP-1 sepsis quality measure.
Crit Care Med 2019 Aug;47(8):1026-32. doi: 10.1097/ccm.0000000000003613..
Keywords: Sepsis, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Hospitals, Provider Performance
Li Y, Cen X, Cai X
Perceived patient safety culture in nursing homes associated with "Nursing Home Compare" performance indicators.
This study examined the association between the use of “Nursing Home Compare” performance indicators and improved patient safety culture in nursing homes. A survey was conducted in 2017 using AHRQ’s Survey on Patient Safety Culture for Nursing Homes which collects data on 12 core domains of safety culture scores. Out of 2254 nursing homes sampled, there was a response rate of 36%. It was found that for every 10 percentage points increase in overall positive response rate for safety culture, there was an association with 0.56 fewer health care deficiencies, 0.74 fewer substantiated complaints, reduced fines by $2285.20, and 20% increased odds of being designed as 4-star or 5-star.
AHRQ-funded; HS024923.
Citation: Li Y, Cen X, Cai X .
Perceived patient safety culture in nursing homes associated with "Nursing Home Compare" performance indicators.
Med Care 2019 Aug;57(8):641-47. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000001142..
Keywords: Surveys on Patient Safety Culture, Patient Safety, Nursing Homes, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Provider Performance
Sankaran R, Sukul D, Nuliyalu U
Changes in hospital safety following penalties in the US Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program: retrospective cohort study.
This study evaluated the association between hospital penalization in the US Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program (HACRP) and changes in clinical outcomes. Out of the total of 724 hospitals were penalized in fiscal year 2015, 708 were included in the study. The majority of the penalized hospitals were large teaching institutions and have a greater share of low-income patients than non-penalized hospitals. After penalization, there was a non-significant change in hospital acquired conditions, 30-day readmission rates, and 30-day mortality. This might mean that disparities in care could be exacerbated.
AHRQ-funded; HS026244.
Citation: Sankaran R, Sukul D, Nuliyalu U .
Changes in hospital safety following penalties in the US Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program: retrospective cohort study.
BMJ 2019 Jul 3;366:l4109. doi: 10.1136/bmj.l4109..
Keywords: Health Insurance, Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), Hospitals, Medicare, Patient Safety, Provider Performance, Payment, Quality of Care, Quality Indicators (QIs)
Cefalu MS, Elliott MN, Setodji CM
Hospital quality indicators are not unidimensional: a reanalysis of Lieberthal and Comer.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the dimensionality of hospital quality indicators treated as unidimensional in a prior publication. The investigators found that there were four underlying dimensions of hospital quality: patient experience, mortality, and two clinical process dimensions. They concluded that hospital quality should be measured using a variety of indicators reflecting different dimensions of quality.
AHRQ-funded; HS016980; HS016978.
Citation: Cefalu MS, Elliott MN, Setodji CM .
Hospital quality indicators are not unidimensional: a reanalysis of Lieberthal and Comer.
Health Serv Res 2019 Apr;54(2):502-08. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.13056..
Keywords: Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Hospitals, Patient Experience, Provider Performance, Quality of Care, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures
Kaiser SV, Lam R, Joseph GB
Limitations of using pediatric respiratory illness readmissions to compare hospital performance.
Researcher sought to determine if a National Quality Forum (NQF)-endorsed measure for pediatric lower respiratory illness (LRI) 30-day readmission rates can meaningfully identify high- and low-performing hospitals. Subjects were children with LRI (bronchiolitis, influenza, or pneumonia as primary diagnosis, or with an LRI as a secondary diagnosis with a primary diagnosis of respiratory failure, sepsis, bacteremia, or asthma) from all hospital admissions in California from 2012 to 2014. The researchers were unable to identify meaningful variation in hospital performance without broadening the metric definition and merging multiple years of data. They recommend that utilizers of pediatric-quality measures consider modifying metrics to better evaluate the quality of pediatric care at low-volume hospitals.
AHRQ-funded; HS024385; HS022835; HS024592; HS025297.
Citation: Kaiser SV, Lam R, Joseph GB .
Limitations of using pediatric respiratory illness readmissions to compare hospital performance.
J Hosp Med 2018 Nov;13(11):737-42. doi: 10.12788/jhm.2988..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Respiratory Conditions, Provider Performance, Hospital Readmissions, Hospitals, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Quality Improvement
Ryskina KL, Konetzka RT, Werner RM
Association between 5-Star nursing home report card ratings and potentially preventable hospitalizations.
The goal of this study was to test whether the improvements in nursing homes’ 5-star ratings were correlated with reductions in rates of hospitalization; the researchers’ hypothesis was that increased attention to ratings motivated nursing homes to make changes to improve ratings but did not affect hospitalization rate, resulting in a weakened association between ratings and hospitalizations. 2007-2010 Medicare hospital claims and nursing home clinical assessment data were used to compare the correlation between nursing homes’ ratings and hospitalization rates. Correlation weakened slightly after the ratings became publicly available. The researchers conclude that improvements in nursing home ratings after the release of Medicare's 5-star rating system were not accompanied by improvements in a broader measure of outcomes for post-acute care patients and, although this dissociation may be due to additional factors, the 5-star ratings became less meaningful as an indicator of nursing home quality for these patients.
AHRQ-funded; HS021861.
Citation: Ryskina KL, Konetzka RT, Werner RM .
Association between 5-Star nursing home report card ratings and potentially preventable hospitalizations.
Inquiry 2018 Jan-Dec;55:46958018787323. doi: 10.1177/0046958018787323..
Keywords: Elderly, Nursing Homes, Medicare, Quality Indicators (QIs), Provider Performance, Quality Measures, Hospitalization, Quality of Care
Lewis VA, Fraze T, Fisher ES
ACOs serving high proportions of racial and ethnic minorities lag in quality performance.
Researchers analyzed racial and ethnic disparities in health care outcomes among accountable care organizations (ACOs). Their findings suggest that ACOs with a high share of minority patients may struggle with quality performance under ACO contracts, especially during their early years of participation-maintaining or potentially exacerbating current inequities.
AHRQ-funded; HS024075.
Citation: Lewis VA, Fraze T, Fisher ES .
ACOs serving high proportions of racial and ethnic minorities lag in quality performance.
Health Aff 2017 Jan;36(1):57-66. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0626.
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Keywords: Disparities, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Provider Performance, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality of Care
Calderwood MS, Kleinman K, Huang SS
Surgical site infections: volume-outcome relationship and year-to-year stability of performance rankings.
The researchers evaluated the volume-outcome relationship as well as the year-to-year stability of performance rankings following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and hip arthroplasty. They concluded that aggregate surgical site infection risk is highest in hospitals with low annual procedure volumes. Even for higher volume hospitals, year-to-year random variation makes past experience an unreliable estimator of current performance.
AHRQ-funded; HS021424.
Citation: Calderwood MS, Kleinman K, Huang SS .
Surgical site infections: volume-outcome relationship and year-to-year stability of performance rankings.
Med Care 2017 Jan;55(1):79-85. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000000620.
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Keywords: Surgery, Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), Adverse Events, Injuries and Wounds, Hospitals, Provider Performance, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality of Care, Patient Safety, Elderly
McConnell KJ, Lindrooth RC, Wholey DR
Modern management practices and hospital admissions.
The researchers investigated whether the modern management practices and publicly reported performance measures are associated with choice of hospital for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). They found that, overall, a one standard deviation change in management practice scores is associated with an 8% increase in AMI admissions.
AHRQ-funded; HS018466.
Citation: McConnell KJ, Lindrooth RC, Wholey DR .
Modern management practices and hospital admissions.
Health Econ 2016 Apr;25(4):470-85. doi: 10.1002/hec.3171.
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Keywords: Hospitals, Heart Disease and Health, Cardiovascular Conditions, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Public Reporting, Provider Performance
Walkey AJ, Weinberg J, Wiener RS
Association of do-not-resuscitate orders and hospital mortality rate among patients with pneumonia.
The researchers evaluated the effect of analytic approaches accounting for do-not-resuscitate (DNR) status on risk-adjusted hospital mortality rates and performance rankings. They found that after accounting for patient DNR status and between-hospital variation in the association between DNR status and mortality, hospitals with higher DNR rates had lower mortality.
AHRQ-funded; HS020672.
Citation: Walkey AJ, Weinberg J, Wiener RS .
Association of do-not-resuscitate orders and hospital mortality rate among patients with pneumonia.
JAMA Intern Med 2016 Jan;176(1):97-104. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.6324.
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Keywords: Hospitals, Mortality, Quality of Care, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Pneumonia, Provider Performance, Respiratory Conditions
Mukamel DB, Ye Z, Glance LG
Does mandating nursing home participation in quality reporting make a difference? Evidence from Massachusetts.
This study investigated one of the mechanisms that may detract from the effectiveness of quality report cards: voluntary versus mandatory participation of nursing homes in public quality reporting. It found that once reporting became mandatory, nonvolunteers improved more than volunteers in all but 2 staffing measures.
AHRQ-funded; HS021844.
Citation: Mukamel DB, Ye Z, Glance LG .
Does mandating nursing home participation in quality reporting make a difference? Evidence from Massachusetts.
Med Care 2015 Aug;53(8):713-9. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000000390..
Keywords: Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Public Reporting, Provider Performance, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Elderly
Smith B, McDuff J, Naierman N
What consumers want to know about quality when choosing a hospice provider.
This study drew on focus group and survey data collected in 5 metropolitan areas to learn more about hospice quality data. The researchers found that participants placed top priority on measures related to pain and symptom management. The National Quality Forum-approved measures resonate well with consumers, who also appear to be ready for access to data on the quality of hospice providers.
AHRQ-funded; HS021870.
Citation: Smith B, McDuff J, Naierman N .
What consumers want to know about quality when choosing a hospice provider.
Am J Hosp Palliat Care 2015 Jun;32(4):393-400. doi: 10.1177/1049909114524475.
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Keywords: Caregiving, Education: Patient and Caregiver, Shared Decision Making, Palliative Care, Provider Performance, Public Reporting, Quality of Care, Quality Indicators (QIs)
Bevans KB, Moon J, Carle AC
Patient reported outcomes as indicators of pediatric health care quality.
The authors described and illustrated in case examples the functions, benefits, and challenges of patient-reported outcomes applications. They concluded that pediatric patient-reported outcomes are increasingly recognized as valuable indicators of health care quality in the clinical environment and as measures of organization- and provider-level performance.
AHRQ-funded; HS020408.
Citation: Bevans KB, Moon J, Carle AC .
Patient reported outcomes as indicators of pediatric health care quality.
Acad Pediatr 2014 Sep-Oct;14(5 Suppl):S90-6. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2014.06.002..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Quality of Care, Children/Adolescents, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Provider Performance
Maggard-Gibbons M
The use of report cards and outcome measurements to improve the safety of surgical care: the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.
This review summarized the history of American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Project and its components, and described the evidence that feeding outcomes back to providers, along with real-time comparisons with other hospital rates, leads to quality improvement, better patient outcomes, cost savings and overall improved patient safety.
AHRQ-funded; 2902007100621.
Citation: Maggard-Gibbons M .
The use of report cards and outcome measurements to improve the safety of surgical care: the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.
BMJ Qual Saf 2014 Jul;23(7):589-99. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002223..
Keywords: Quality Improvement, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Surgery, Patient Safety, Outcomes, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Provider Performance