National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
Latest available findings on quality of and access to health care
Data
- Data Infographics
- Data Visualizations
- Data Tools
- Data Innovations
- All-Payer Claims Database
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)
- Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
- AHRQ Quality Indicator Tools for Data Analytics
- State Snapshots
- United States Health Information Knowledgebase (USHIK)
- Data Sources Available from AHRQ
Search All Research Studies
Topics
- Behavioral Health (1)
- Caregiving (1)
- Children/Adolescents (1)
- Community-Based Practice (1)
- Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) (2)
- Data (2)
- Diabetes (1)
- Disparities (4)
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs) (1)
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) (1)
- Health Information Technology (HIT) (2)
- Health Insurance (1)
- Health Literacy (1)
- Health Promotion (1)
- Health Services Research (HSR) (1)
- Heart Disease and Health (2)
- Hospital Discharge (2)
- Hospitals (2)
- Low-Income (1)
- Medicare (1)
- Patient Experience (2)
- Payment (1)
- Primary Care (2)
- (-) Quality Improvement (11)
- Quality of Care (6)
- (-) Racial and Ethnic Minorities (11)
- Registries (2)
- Social Determinants of Health (1)
- Urban Health (1)
AHRQ Research Studies
Sign up: AHRQ Research Studies Email updates
Research Studies is a compilation of published research articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers.
Results
1 to 11 of 11 Research Studies DisplayedGriesemer I, Birken SA, Rini C
Mechanisms to enhance racial equity in health care: developing a model to facilitate translation of the ACCURE intervention.
The purpose of this study was to explore the Accountability for Cancer Care through Undoing Racism and Equity (ACCURE) program, which altered systems of care at two United States cancer centers and eliminated the Black-White racial disparity in treatment completion in patients with early-stage breast and lung cancer. The study objective was to identify and document critical characteristics of ACCURE to enable translation of the intervention to other care settings. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 participants who were involved in the design and implementation of ACCURE. The study found that participants described transparency and accountability as mechanisms of change that were operationalized through ACCURE's key features. Intervention features were designed to improve either institutional transparency or accountability of the care system to community values and patient needs for minimally biased, tailored communication, and support.
AHRQ-funded; HS000032.
Citation: Griesemer I, Birken SA, Rini C .
Mechanisms to enhance racial equity in health care: developing a model to facilitate translation of the ACCURE intervention.
SSM Qual Res Health 2023 Jun; 3:100204. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100204..
Keywords: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Disparities, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
O'Kane M, Agrawal S, Binder L
AHRQ Author: Meyers D
An equity agenda for the field of health care quality improvement.
The authors of this paper assert that the U.S. health system must take action to centralize equity, particularly racial equity (including ethnicity), in discussions of quality. In this discussion paper, the authors provide an analysis and delineation of the key elements of their racial equity agenda for the field of health care quality improvement.
AHRQ-authored.
Citation: O'Kane M, Agrawal S, Binder L .
An equity agenda for the field of health care quality improvement.
NAM Perspect 2021 Sep 15;2021. doi: 10.31478/202109b..
Keywords: Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Disparities, Social Determinants of Health
Markovitz AA, Ayanian JZ, Warrier A
Medicare Advantage plan double bonuses drive racial disparity in payments, yield no quality or enrollment improvements.
Using national data for 2008-18, investigators found that double bonuses were not associated with either improvements in plan quality or increased Medicare Advantage enrollment. Additionally, double bonuses increased payments to plans to care for Black beneficiaries by $60 per year, compared with $91 for White beneficiaries. These findings suggest that double bonuses not only fail to improve quality and enrollment but also foster a racially inequitable distribution of Medicare funds that disfavors Black beneficiaries. This study supports eliminating double bonuses, thereby saving Medicare an estimated $1.8 billion per year.
AHRQ-funded; HS000053.
Citation: Markovitz AA, Ayanian JZ, Warrier A .
Medicare Advantage plan double bonuses drive racial disparity in payments, yield no quality or enrollment improvements.
Health Aff 2021 Sep;40(9):1411-19. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00349..
Keywords: Medicare, Health Insurance, Payment, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Disparities, Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Tieu L, Hobbs A, Sarkar U
Adapting patient experience data collection processes for lower literacy patient populations using tablets at the point of care.
This study compared the acceptability of low-literacy tablet-based and traditional paper-based patient experience surveys in English and Spanish. The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems Clinician & Group Survey (CG-CAHPS) was adapted for a pilot survey using low-literacy questions in Spanish and English. The majority of interview participants preferred the tablet version over the traditional paper-based survey. This was especially true for the younger and Latino respondents.
AHRQ-funded; HS022408.
Citation: Tieu L, Hobbs A, Sarkar U .
Adapting patient experience data collection processes for lower literacy patient populations using tablets at the point of care.
Med Care 2019 Jun;57 Suppl 6 Suppl 2:S140-s48. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000001030..
Keywords: Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Health Information Technology (HIT), Health Literacy, Patient Experience, Primary Care, Quality of Care, Quality Improvement, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Urban Health
Toomey SL, Elliott MN, Zaslavsky AM
Improving response rates and representation of hard-to-reach groups in family experience surveys.
This study examined the use of an audio-enabled tablet to survey parents of children discharged from 4 units of a children’s hospital. Normal mail survey response rates are very low, especially for black, Latino, and low-income respondents. This survey was done day of discharge at the hospital and there was a response rate of 71.1% via tablet versus 16.3% for mail only. The Child Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey was used. Tablet response rates were highest with fathers, those more likely to have a high school education or less, less likely to be white, and more likely to be publicly insured. The results are promising for future surveys using tablet administration.
AHRQ-funded; HS020513; HS025299.
Citation: Toomey SL, Elliott MN, Zaslavsky AM .
Improving response rates and representation of hard-to-reach groups in family experience surveys.
Acad Pediatr 2019 May - Jun;19(4):446-53. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2018.07.007..
Keywords: Caregiving, Children/Adolescents, Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Health Information Technology (HIT), Hospitals, Low-Income, Patient Experience, Quality of Care, Quality Improvement, Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Patel SR, Gorritz M, Olfson M
Training community-based primary care physicians in the screening and management of mental health disorders among Latino primary care patients.
The researchers evaluated a quality improvement intervention to improve the screening and management (e.g., referral to psychiatric care) of common mental disorders in small independent Latino primary care practices. They concluded that improving the quality of mental health care in low-resourced primary care settings may require academic detailing and consultation/liaison psychiatric intervention supplemented with staff outreach to achieve meaningful improvement in the processes of care.
AHRQ-funded; HS021112.
Citation: Patel SR, Gorritz M, Olfson M .
Training community-based primary care physicians in the screening and management of mental health disorders among Latino primary care patients.
Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2016 Jan-Feb;38:71-8. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2015.09.006.
.
.
Keywords: Community-Based Practice, Primary Care, Behavioral Health, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Quality Improvement
Andrews RM, Schulman KA
AHRQ Author: Andrews RM
Enhancing the value of Statewide Hospital Discharge Data: improving clinical content and race-ethnicity data.
To foster successful approaches to enhancing state data, AHRQ awarded eight 3-year grants to explore methods to improve the clinical content and race/ethnicity information in these databases. This editorial announces an HSR Special Issue, sponsored by AHRQ, that focuses on the products and lessons learned from these grant projects. Seven articles cover background information on statewide hospital discharge data and the grant program aims, challenges, and lessons learned.
AHRQ-authored.
Citation: Andrews RM, Schulman KA .
Enhancing the value of Statewide Hospital Discharge Data: improving clinical content and race-ethnicity data.
Health Serv Res 2015 Aug;50 Suppl 1:1265-72. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12342..
Keywords: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Quality Improvement, Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Zingmond DS, Parikh P, Louie R
Improving hospital reporting of patient race and ethnicity--approaches to data auditing.
This study investigated new metrics to improve the reporting of patient race and ethnicity (R/E) by hospitals. It examined agreement between hospital reported R/E versus self-report among mothers delivering babies and a cancer cohort in California. It concluded that comparison between reported R/E and R/E estimates using zip code level data may be a reasonable first approach to evaluate and track hospital R/E reporting.
AHRQ-funded; HS019963.
Citation: Zingmond DS, Parikh P, Louie R .
Improving hospital reporting of patient race and ethnicity--approaches to data auditing.
Health Serv Res 2015 Aug;50 Suppl 1:1372-89. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12324..
Keywords: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Hospitals, Hospital Discharge, Health Services Research (HSR), Registries, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Data
Bigback KM, Hoopes M, Dankovchik J
Using record linkage to improve race data quality for American Indians and Alaska Natives in two Pacific Northwest State Hospital Discharge Databases.
This study aimed to evaluate and adjust for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) racial misclassification in two hospital discharge datasets in the Pacific Northwest. It found that in Oregon, 55.4 percent of matching records were misclassified (66.5 percent miscoded white, and 22.1 percent were missing race information). Linkage increased ascertainment of AI/AN hospitalizations by 31.8 percent in Oregon and 33.9 percent in Washington.
AHRQ-funded; HS019972.
Citation: Bigback KM, Hoopes M, Dankovchik J .
Using record linkage to improve race data quality for American Indians and Alaska Natives in two Pacific Northwest State Hospital Discharge Databases.
Health Serv Res 2015 Aug;50 Suppl 1:1390-402. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12331..
Keywords: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Quality Improvement, Registries, Hospital Discharge, Data
Eapen ZJ, Liang L, Shubrook JH
Current quality of cardiovascular prevention for Million Hearts: an analysis of 147,038 outpatients from The Guideline Advantage.
This study examined adherence to clinical quality measures focusing on antiplatelet drugs for ischemic vascular disease, blood pressure control for hypertension, cholesterol control for diabetes, and tobacco use screening among 145,038 patients from 25 U.S. practices. It found that black and people of color races were associated with a lower likelihood of blood pressure and cholesterol control.
AHRQ-funded; HS021092
Citation: Eapen ZJ, Liang L, Shubrook JH .
Current quality of cardiovascular prevention for Million Hearts: an analysis of 147,038 outpatients from The Guideline Advantage.
Am Heart J. 2014 Sep;168(3):398-404. doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2014.06.007..
Keywords: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Promotion, Heart Disease and Health, Quality Improvement, Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Zhang R, Lee JY, Jean-Jacques M
Factors influencing the increasing disparity in LDL cholesterol control between white and black patients with diabetes in a context of active quality improvement.
The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of black and white patients treated continuously between 2008 and 2010 in order to examine possible causes of an increased disparity in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol control following a multifaceted physician-directed quality improvement (QI) initiative. They found that physician-facing, general QI interventions may be insufficient to produce equity in LDL cholesterol control, and that helping patients maintain prior success controlling cholesterol appears as important in addressing this disparity as is helping uncontrolled patients achieve control.
AHRQ-funded; HS021141.
Citation: Zhang R, Lee JY, Jean-Jacques M .
Factors influencing the increasing disparity in LDL cholesterol control between white and black patients with diabetes in a context of active quality improvement.
Am J Med Qual 2014 Jul-Aug;29(4):308-14. doi: 10.1177/1062860613498112.
.
.
Keywords: Heart Disease and Health, Diabetes, Disparities, Quality Improvement, Racial and Ethnic Minorities