AHRQ Views Blog: AHRQ’s Signature Data Resources Poised To Inform the Battle against COVID-19

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Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Views Blog: AHRQ’s Signature Data Resources Poised To Inform the Battle against COVID-19.
• Lower Medicare Payments May Limit Growth of Home Health Agencies in Some Rural Counties.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Register Now: June 3 Webinar on Challenge Competition for Improving Rural Postpartum Mental Health.
• AHRQ Seeks Feedback To Improve Website Usability.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Views Blog: AHRQ’s Signature Data Resources Poised To Inform the Battle against COVID-19

AHRQ’s contributions to expanding the availability of data in the battle against COVID-19 are highlighted in a new blog post by AHRQ Director Gopal Khanna, M.B.A. AHRQ supports the emerging consensus that the nation requires a data infrastructure that delivers uniform, real-time information to address the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health and care delivery needs. Drawing on data from the agency’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), AHRQ has provided federal officials important information about hospital occupancy rates, the availability of intensive care unit beds and current ventilator capacity. Information from AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) has similarly helped HHS leadership assess COVID-19 risks for various population subgroups. Looking ahead, AHRQ has begun to articulate a vision for a new AHRQ data resource—an “analytics and insights platform”—that will expand its data enterprise by providing valuable new information to researchers and policymakers at every level of government.  Access the blog post to learn more. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address and select “AHRQ Views Blog.” 

Lower Medicare Payments May Limit Growth of Home Health Agencies in Some Rural Counties

When rural add-on payments from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) were lower, the availability of home health agencies grew more slowly in rural counties that are distant from urban counties than in urban counties, according to an AHRQ-funded study published in Health Affairs. Home healthcare is a critical resource in rural counties, where senior populations are growing faster than in urban counties, authors noted. Since 2001, federal statutes have intermittently provided higher-than-standard payments to home health agencies in rural areas to ensure service availability. Researchers’ analysis of data from CMS and Home Health Compare showed no significant difference in home health agencies per capita between urban counties and adjacent rural communities between 2002 and 2017. However, among rural counties not adjacent to urban counties, only add-on payments of 5 percent or 10 percent kept the availability of home health services on pace with urban counties, researchers concluded. Access the abstract. 

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:

• The role of cognitive bias in breast radiology diagnostic and judgment errors.
• Epidemiology of and risk factors for coronavirus infection in health care workers: a living rapid review.
• Assessment of potentially inappropriate prescribing of opioid analgesics requiring prior opioid tolerance.

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).

Register Now: June 3 Webinar on Challenge Competition for Improving Rural Postpartum Mental Health

A webinar on June 3 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. ET will showcase AHRQ’s recently launched challenge competition on improving rural postpartum mental health. Five winners in the Cross-Sectional Innovation to Improve Rural Postpartum Mental Health Challenge will receive $15,000 each for stories about how they’ve successfully improved rural postpartum mental health. In addition, two winners will be awarded up to $50,000 to implement innovative proposed programs with the same goal. Programs may include prevention, screening and treatment for rural postpartum mental health. Submissions are due Sept. 15. Register for the webinar. 

AHRQ Seeks Feedback To Improve Website Usability

AHRQ is seeking participants in an online exercise aimed at improving the organization and usability of the AHRQ.gov website. Participants in the card sorting exercise, estimated to take about 15 minutes, will review healthcare terms and organize those terms into categories that make sense to them. Participant feedback, which is anonymous, will be used to inform future improvements in website navigation and usability. To join the exercise, randomly select either Card Sort A or Card Sort B.

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• Systematic Review (draft open for comment): Management of Colonic Diverticulitis.
• Systematic Review (draft open for comment): Therapies for Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

The CMS State Innovation Models Initiative and improved health information technology and care management capabilities of physician practices. Kandel ZK, Rittenhouse DR, Bibi S, et al. Med Care Res Rev 2020 Jan 22. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Protocol for the development of guidance for stakeholder engagement in health and healthcare guideline development and implementation. Petkovic J, Riddle A, Akl EA, et al. Syst Rev 2020 Feb 1;9(1):21. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

The contemporary appendectomy for acute uncomplicated appendicitis in children. Childers CP, Dworsky JQ, Massoumi RL, et al. Surgery 2019 May;165(5):1027-34. Epub 2019 Mar 21. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Machine learning for screening prioritization in systematic reviews: comparative performance of Abstrackr and EPPI-Reviewer. Tsou AY, Treadwell JR, Erinoff E, et al. Syst Rev 2020 Apr 2;9(1):73. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Evaluating the impact of pneumonia prevention recommendations following cardiac surgery. Strobel RJ, Harrington SD, Hill C, et al. Ann Thorac Surg 2020 Feb 6. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Building and maintaining trust in clinical decision support: recommendations from the Patient-Centered CDS Learning Network. Richardson JE, Middleton B, Platt JE, et al. Learn Health Syst 2020 Apr;4(2):e10208. Epub 2019 Dec 11. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Evolving strategies to manage Clostridium difficile colitis. Bowman JA, Utter GH. J Gastrointest Surg 2020 Feb;24(2):484-91. Epub 2019 Nov 25. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Associations between social risk factors and surgical site infections after colectomy and abdominal hysterectomy. Qi AC, Peacock K, Luke AA, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2019 Oct 2;2(10):e1912339. Access the abstract on PubMed®.