AHRQ Announces Funding Available for Expanding Access to Care for People With Long COVID

AHRQ Stats

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

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Announces Funding Available for Expanding Access to Care for People With Long COVID.
• Recommended Blood Culture Practices Not Routinely Performed in California NICU Settings.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Applications Due April 18 for Funding To Improve Diagnostic Safety.
• Explore AHRQ Resources That Support Health Literacy During National Minority Health Month.
• Keep AHRQ Informed About Your Research Accepted for Publication.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Announces Funding Available for Expanding Access to Care for People With Long COVID

A new Notice of Funding Opportunity from AHRQ solicits grant applications to expand access to comprehensive, coordinated and person-centered care for people with Long COVID, particularly underserved, rural, vulnerable or minority populations disproportionately impacted by the condition. The initiative will provide up to $9 million to support existing multidisciplinary Long COVID clinics or other organizations to develop and implement new or improved care delivery models, provide services to more people with Long COVID, expand services and strengthen care coordination, implement and share best practices, support the primary care community with Long COVID education and management, evaluate project success and disseminate findings. Access the press release and learn about other funding opportunities from AHRQ.

Recommended Blood Culture Practices Not Routinely Performed in California NICU Settings

An AHRQ-funded study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology found that a large percentage of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) surveyed in California do not adhere to commonly accepted procedures associated with obtaining blood cultures, such as receiving a routine culture contamination report from the laboratory. Researchers evaluated whether 28 NICUs followed recommended practices in an antimicrobial stewardship quality improvement program through the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative. They found that 75 percent of NICUs didn’t have a written neonatal-specific blood culture procedure, 75 percent didn’t document the amount of blood obtained, 64 percent did not report if less than 1 ml of blood was obtained and 54 percent didn’t have sufficient competency in blood culture collection procedures. However, through the survey, they also found that NICUs with neonatal nurse practitioners more frequently reported adopting more than 50 percent of the practices, compared with NICUs without nurse practitioners. 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:

• Communicating patient safety information through video and oral formats-a comparison.
• Frontline nurses' clinical judgment in recognizing, understanding, and responding to patient deterioration: a qualitative study.
• The relationship between patient safety culture and the intentions of the nursing staff to report a near-miss event during the COVID-19 crisis.

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).

Applications Due April 18 for Funding To Improve Diagnostic Safety

AHRQ’s ongoing efforts to improve the quality, safety and equity of healthcare include a pair of funding opportunities aimed at advancing diagnostic safety:

• AHRQ Understanding and Improving Diagnostic Safety in Ambulatory Care: Incidence and Contributing Factors (R01) invites proposals focused on understanding and improving diagnostic safety in the heterogenous ambulatory care environment. The agency is interested in learning the incidence and contributing factors of diagnostic error within and across the array of ambulatory care services.
• AHRQ Improving Diagnostic Safety in Ambulatory Care: Strategies and Preventions (R18) invites proposals focused on understanding and improving diagnostic safety in the heterogenous ambulatory care environment. The agency is interested in providing support designed to develop, test, and evaluate primary care activities that will improve diagnostic safety and quality. 

Applications for diagnostic safety research proposals are due April 18. Explore additional Notices of Funding Opportunity from AHRQ, including Research Grants (R series), Career Development Awards (K series) and Research Training and Fellowships (T & F series).

Explore AHRQ Resources That Support Health Literacy During National Minority Health Month

April is National Minority Health Month, an observance that highlights the importance of improving the health of racial and ethnic minority and American Indian/Alaska Native communities and reducing health disparities. This year’s theme is “Better Health Through Better Understanding,” a goal that AHRQ supports through investments in research and resources that improve health literacy. Examples of agency resources that help achieve better outcomes for minority populations include the Spanish-language version of AHRQ’s QuestionBuilder app. The tool helps patients prepare and organize questions before medical appointments so they better understand their conditions and treatment options.

Keep AHRQ Informed About Your Research Accepted for Publication

AHRQ’s Office of Communications works with grantees and contractors, as well as our own intramural researchers, to promote findings from AHRQ-funded research. When your research is accepted for publication, either online or in print, please send an email to JournalPublishing@ahrq.hhs.gov with a copy of the manuscript and the completed fillable PDF form “Getting Recognition for Your AHRQ-Funded Study” attached. We need 4 to 6 weeks before publication to review the content for potential promotion, which can range from a press release to a citation in the AHRQ News Now newsletter or social media promotion. AHRQ honors all journal embargo dates, so manuscripts sent to the database will remain confidential.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Opportunities to increase well-child care engagement for families affected by maternal opioid use disorder: perceptions of mothers and clinicians. Short VL, Gannon M, Sood E, et al. Acad Pediatr 2023 Mar;23(2):425-33. Epub 2022 Jul 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Characteristics, utilization, and concentration of outpatient care for dual-eligible Medicare beneficiaries. Chatterjee P, Liao JM, Wang E, et al. Am J Manag Care 2022 Oct;28(10):e370-e7. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Managing multiple perspectives in the collaborative design process of a team health information technology. Hose BZ, Carayon P, Hoonakker PLT, et al. Appl Ergon 2023 Jan;106:103846. Epub 2022 Aug 16. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Development and evaluation of rehabilitation service areas for the United States. Reistetter TA, Dean JM, Haas AM, et al. BMC Health Serv Res 2023 Mar 1;23(1):204. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Antibias efforts in United States maternity care: a scoping review of the publicly funded health equity intervention pipeline. Garrett SB, Walia A, Miller F, et al. Clin Obstet Gynecol 2023 Mar 1;66(1):110-23. Epub 2022 Dec 26. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Demographic and clinical factors associated with long COVID. Song Z, Giuriato M. Health Aff 2023 Mar;42(3):433-42. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Partnering with patients and families living with chronic conditions to coproduce diagnostic safety through OurDX: a previsit online engagement tool. Bell SK, Dong ZJ, Desroches CM, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2023 Mar 16;30(4):692-702. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Nurse engagement in antibiotic stewardship programs: a scoping review of the literature. Thurman Johnson C, Ridge LJ, Hessels AJ. J Healthc Qual 2023 Mar-Apr;45(2):69-82. Epub 2022 Dec 12. Access the abstract on PubMed®.