AHRQ Releases First Public Database on Patient Safety Events Submitted by PSOs

Editor’s Note: AHRQ News Now will not publish next week. Our next edition will be July 9.

AHRQ Stats: Confirming Patients Understand Their Healthcare Instructions

Less than one-third (30 percent) of adults whose providers gave them healthcare instructions reported that they were always asked to describe the information in their own words, which is the first step of the “teach-back” method, an evidence-based technique providers can use to confirm patients understand their instructions. (Source: AHRQ, National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report Data Spotlight: Health Literacy and the Teach-Back Method [PDF, 752.5 KB]).

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Releases First Public Database on Patient Safety Events Submitted by PSOs.
• Uninsured Hospital and Emergency Department Rates Drop Due to Medicaid Expansion.
• Submit Abstracts by July 16 for Dissemination and Implementation Conference.
• AHRQ’s PSNet Primer on Provider Burnout Addresses Organizational Influences.
• Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Offers Funding To Improve Diagnostic Safety.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature. 

AHRQ Releases First Public Database on Patient Safety Events Submitted by PSOs

AHRQ has released a new Network of Patient Safety Databases (NPSD), the first publicly available online resource that captures nonidentifiable information on patient safety events collected by AHRQ-listed Patient Safety Organizations. Data contained in the congressionally mandated NPSD will be used to produce dashboards and a chartbook for providers and others to learn about patient safety events, including the distribution of incidents, near misses and unsafe conditions, and how to reduce patient safety risks and harms across healthcare settings nationally. Analyses of patient safety events from the NPSD data also will be available to the public through AHRQ’s annual National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report. The operation of the NPSD requires that AHRQ also develop a report to Congress on effective strategies for reducing medical errors and increasing patient safety.    

Uninsured Hospital and Emergency Department Rates Drop Due to Medicaid Expansion

Rates of uninsured hospital stays and emergency department visits fell sharply among different groups in states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility, according to a study published in Health Services Research. Uninsured hospital stays decreased by an average 39 percent per capita in expansion states for all groups except for young women. In nonexpansion states, uninsured inpatient rates remained unchanged or increased slightly. The study, based on AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data from 2011 to 2015, also found that the positive change in health outcomes was greater in states with larger populations eligible to purchase insurance coverage. Access the abstract. 

Submit Abstracts by July 16 for Dissemination and Implementation Conference

Abstracts are due by 5 p.m. ET on July 16 for the 12th Annual Conference on the Science and Dissemination and Implementation in Health. More than 1,200 attendees are expected at the Dec. 4–6 conference, co-hosted by the National Institutes of Health and AcademyHealth, in Arlington, Virginia. The event aims to advance the use of evidence to inform decisions that will improve individual and community health. Submitted abstracts will be scored according to several criteria, with preference given to those that focus on the conference theme and tracks; utilize rigorous and relevant research methods; present high-quality data to support findings; and adequately demonstrate how the study will advance the field. Access the call for abstracts.

AHRQ’s PSNet Primer on Provider Burnout Addresses Organizational Influences

A new AHRQ primer looks at the impact of healthcare provider burnout on the delivery of safe and high-quality care and ways the issue is being addressed from a systems perspective. AHRQ has funded research on burnout for 15 years and continues to address the issue as co-leader of the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety along with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Access the new primer from AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet). 

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Offers Funding To Improve Diagnostic Safety

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is accepting online applications until Aug. 2 for novel approaches to developing new clinical measures aimed at improving diagnosis in three major disease categories: acute vascular events (such as stroke and myocardial infarction), infections (such as sepsis and pneumonia) and cancer (such as lung and colorectal cancer). The Moore Foundation’s Diagnostic Excellence Initiative will support three to six grants, each between $250,000 and $500,000, for work done over 12 to 18 months. The foundation’s efforts complement AHRQ’s ongoing diagnostic safety efforts. 

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Experiences of primary care physicians and staff following lean workflow redesign. Hung DY, Harrison MI, Truong Q, et al. BMC Health Serv Res 2018 Apr 10;18(1):274. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

A statewide model for assisting nursing home residents to transition successfully to the community. Buttke D, Cooke V, Abrahamson K, et al. Geriatrics (Basel) 2018 Jun;3(2):18. Epub 2018 Apr 10. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Antidiabetic treatment patterns and specialty care utilization among patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Pantalone KM, Misra-Hebert AD, Hobbs TM, et al. Cardiovasc Diabetol 2018 Apr 10;17(1):54. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Estimated cost to a restaurant of a foodborne illness outbreak. Bartsch SM, Asti L, Nyathi S, et al. Public Health Rep 2018 May/Jun;133(3):274-86. Epub 2018 Apr 15. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Understanding costs of care in the operating room. Childers CP, Maggard-Gibbons M. JAMA Surg 2018 Apr 18;153(4):e176233. Epub 2018 Apr 18. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

A tailored letter based on electronic health record data improves gestational weight gain among women with gestational diabetes mellitus: The Gestational Diabetes' Effects on Moms (GEM) Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial. Hedderson MM, Brown SD, Ehrlich SF, et al. Diabetes Care 2018 Jul;41(7):1370-7. Epub 2018 Apr 18. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Clinical inertia in type 2 diabetes management: evidence from a large, real-world data set. Pantalone KM, Misra-Hebert AD, Hobbs TM, et al. Diabetes Care 2018 Jul;41(7):e113-4. Epub 2018 Apr 20. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Hypertension control after an initial cardiac event among Medicare patients with diabetes mellitus: a multidisciplinary group practice observational study. Chaddha A, Smith MA, Palta M, et al. J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich) 2018 May;20(5):891-901. Epub 2018 Apr 23. Access the abstract on PubMed®.