Opioid Prescribing by Oral Surgeons Decreased From 2016 to 2019, but More Intervention Is Needed

AHRQ Stats

Access more data on this topic in the associated data visualization, plus additional AHRQ data infographics.

Today's Headlines:

• Opioid Prescribing by Oral Surgeons Decreased From 2016 to 2019, but More Intervention Is Needed.
• AHRQ Grantee Identifies Barriers to Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Hospital-to-Home Transition.
• New AHRQ Toolkit Helps Ambulatory Care Practices Improve Antibiotic Use.
• Calibrate Dx: A Resource To Improve Diagnostic Decisions.
• “My Medicines List” Available in English and Spanish To Help Patients Keep Track of Medications.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Register Now for Webinars on Using Databases From AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Opioid Prescribing by Oral Surgeons Decreased From 2016 to 2019, but More Intervention Is Needed

Opioid prescriptions written by oral surgeons for more than three days and for more than 55 morphine milligrams per day both decreased by over 50 percent between 2016 and 2019, according to an AHRQ-funded study in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry. Hydrocodone and oxycodone prescribing decreased by more than 20 percent and just under 40 percent, respectively, although tramadol and codeine prescribing increased. Researchers speculated that policies and regulations such as prescription drug monitoring programs, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and statements by the American Dental Association and the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons on opioid prescribing may have influenced these trends. However, despite significant decreases in opioid prescribing after oral surgery, six states reported increasing rates, suggesting a need for further intervention in those regions. Access the abstract.

AHRQ Grantee Identifies Barriers to Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Hospital-to-Home Transition

AHRQ’s latest grantee profile features Sara Keller, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Keller’s research focuses primarily on identifying ways to prevent, reduce and eliminate healthcare-associated infections. With funding from AHRQ, Dr. Keller identified barriers to antimicrobial stewardship in the hospital-to-home transition. Access her profile and the profiles of other AHRQ grantees.

New AHRQ Toolkit Helps Ambulatory Care Practices Improve Antibiotic Use

A new toolkit released by AHRQ helps ambulatory care practices improve their antibiotic use by applying a novel framework that simplifies the antibiotic prescribing process. Up to half of the antibiotics prescribed in ambulatory settings are considered medically inappropriate. The toolkit employs AHRQ’s Four Moments of Antibiotic Decision Making, which helps improve prescribing by distilling the process into four distinct points, making it easier for prescribers to make informed decisions. More than 350 ambulatory clinics cut overall antibiotic use by almost half using these resources, according to a recent study in JAMA Network Open. The toolkit contains resources on using a stewardship program, communicating about prescribing and applying best practices for common infectious diseases.

Calibrate Dx: A Resource To Improve Diagnostic Decisions

AHRQ’s new Calibrate Dx is a resource to help clinicians evaluate and calibrate diagnostic performance for the purposes of learning and improvement. Lifelong learning is essential for achieving and maintaining diagnostic excellence. Diagnostic excellence involves not just making a correct and timely diagnosis but also doing so while using the fewest resources necessary, optimizing patient experiences and managing uncertainty. Calibrate Dx is organized into five sections that guide clinicians through calibration concepts and exercises. By conducting the calibration exercises, clinicians can identify areas of diagnostic strength as well as opportunities for learning and improvement.

“My Medicines List” Available in English and Spanish To Help Patients Keep Track of Medications

This Health Literacy Month, AHRQ has released a new “My Medicines List” to help people keep track of all of their medicines—prescription and over the counter. The resource makes it easy for patients to remember how and when to take their medicines. Available for free in both English and Spanish, the “My Medicines List” can printed by patients and kept alongside medications, brought to doctor visits, taken on trips or used in emergencies. Access more information from AHRQ about health literacy tools, training and education, and publications.

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:

• Deprescribing medicines in older people living with multimorbidity and polypharmacy: the TAILOR evidence synthesis.
• Spreading a strategy to prevent suicide after psychiatric hospitalization: results of a quality improvement spread initiative.
• Emotional exhaustion among US health care workers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2021.

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 for Webinars on Using Databases From AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project

Registration is open for a series of three October webinars on how health services and policy researchers can use databases from AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP):

• Database Overview, Oct. 18, 2–3 p.m. ET: This overview will explain the HCUP partnership, discuss the making of the HCUP state and nationwide databases, and review how to obtain and access the data and other HCUP resources.
• Overview of Products and Tools, Oct. 19, 2–3 p.m. ET: Participants will learn about the free online query tool, HCUPnet, as well as the availability of hospital utilization statistics derived from the HCUP databases. Presenters will explain how to add value to administrative data.
• Using the Supplemental Files, Oct. 20, 2–3 p.m. ET: Presenters will provide guidance on how supplemental files can be used with HCUP databases to enhance analyses.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

A structured approach to EHR surveillance of diagnostic error in acute care: an exploratory analysis of two institutionally-defined case cohorts. Malik MA, Motta-Calderon D, Piniella N, et al. Diagnosis 2022 Aug 22. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Rapid progress in our understanding of COVID-19 vaccine allergy: a cause for optimism, not hesitancy. Banerji A, Norton AE, Blumenthal KG, et al. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2022 Jul;150(1):12-16. Epub 2022 Apr 7. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Depressive symptoms and incident heart failure risk in the Southern Community Cohort Study. Dixon DD, Xu M, Akwo EA, et al. JACC Heart Fail 2022 Apr;10(4):254-62. Epub 2022 Feb 9. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Medicaid expansion and drug overdose mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Auty SG, Griffith KN. Drug Alcohol Depend 2022 Mar 1;232:109340. Epub 2022 Feb 2. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Association of dual Medicare and Medicaid eligibility with outcomes and spending for cancer surgery in high-quality hospitals. Taylor K, Diaz A, Nuliyalu U, et al. JAMA Surg 2022 Apr;157(4):e217586. Epub 2022 Apr 13. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Quality of life following receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy with and without bevacizumab in patients with lymph node-positive and high-risk lymph node-negative breast cancer. Rosenberg SM, O'Neill A, Sepucha K, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2022 Feb;5(2):e220254. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

The technology landscape of patient-centered clinical decision support—where are we and what is needed? Dullabh P, Heaney-Huls K, Hovey L, et al. Stud Health Technol Inform 2022 Jun 6;290:350-3. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Developing a toolkit to improve resident and family engagement in the safety of assisted living: Engage-a stakeholder-engaged research protocol. Beeber AS, Hoben M, Leeman J, et al. Res Nurs Health 2022 Aug;45(4):413-23. Epub 2022 May 10. Access the abstract on PubMed®.