National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
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AHRQ Research Studies Date
Topics
- Antibiotics (1)
- Antimicrobial Stewardship (1)
- Cancer (1)
- Cancer: Lung Cancer (1)
- Clostridium difficile Infections (1)
- Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) (1)
- COVID-19 (4)
- Dementia (1)
- Diagnostic Safety and Quality (1)
- Elderly (7)
- Guidelines (1)
- Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) (2)
- Health Information Technology (HIT) (2)
- Implementation (1)
- Infectious Diseases (1)
- Long-Term Care (9)
- Medicare (1)
- Medication (2)
- Neurological Disorders (1)
- (-) Nursing Homes (14)
- Patient Safety (2)
- Pressure Ulcers (1)
- Prevention (3)
- Provider: Health Personnel (1)
- Provider Performance (1)
- Public Health (3)
- Quality Improvement (1)
- Quality Indicators (QIs) (2)
- Quality Measures (3)
- Quality of Care (3)
- Risk (1)
- Shared Decision Making (2)
- Telehealth (1)
- Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) (1)
AHRQ Research Studies
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Research Studies is a compilation of published research articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers.
Results
1 to 14 of 14 Research Studies DisplayedPowell KR, Winkler AE, Liu J
A mixed-methods analysis of telehealth implementation in nursing homes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The objective of this study was to investigate the implementation of telehealth in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers conducted a secondary analysis of data from a national survey of nursing home administrative leaders using six survey questions and semi-structured interviews. Their conclusions indicate that training, restructuring teams and tasks, and adaptation of work processes to support communication could improve usability and sustainability of telehealth in nursing homes.
AHRQ-funded; HS02249.
Citation: Powell KR, Winkler AE, Liu J .
A mixed-methods analysis of telehealth implementation in nursing homes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
J Am Geriatr Soc 2022 Dec;70(12):3493-502. doi: 10.1111/jgs.18020..
Keywords: COVID-19, Elderly, Telehealth, Health Information Technology (HIT), Nursing Homes, Implementation
Crnich CJ
Reimagining infection control in U.S. nursing homes in the era of COVID-19.
This paper provides an overview of nursing home (NH) infection and control, reviews the 2016 CMS changes to federal regulations, and proposes recommendations to sustain improvements. COVID-19 put further pressure on nursing homes who were already strained by rising numbers of infections from C. difficile and multidrug-resistant organisms. The author puts out a call for reimagining infection prevention and control using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety framework. Additional recommendations are made to enhance NH infection prevention and control programs in the areas of people, tasks, tools, organization, built environment, and external environment.
AHRQ-funded; HS022465.
Citation: Crnich CJ .
Reimagining infection control in U.S. nursing homes in the era of COVID-19.
J Am Med Dir Assoc 2022 Dec;23(12):1909-15. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2022.10.022..
Keywords: Elderly, COVID-19, Public Health, Infectious Diseases, Nursing Homes, Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), Prevention
Chen Z, Gleason LJ, Sanghavi P
Accuracy of pressure ulcer events in US nursing home ratings.
This study investigated the accuracy of the government website Nursing Home Compare (NHC) pressure ulcer measures, which are chief indicators of nursing home patient safety. The authors identified hospital admissions for pressure ulcers and linked them to the nursing home-reported data at the patient level using Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries who were nursing home residents between 2011 and 2017. Percentages of pressure ulcers that were appropriately reported by stage, long-stay versus short-stay status, and race was calculated. Reporting rates were low for both short-stay (70.2%) and long-stay (59.7%) for stage 2-4 pressure ulcer hospitalizations. Black residents experienced more severe pressure ulcers than White residents. Correlations between claims-based measures and NHC ratings were found to be poor.
AHRQ-funded; HS026957.
Citation: Chen Z, Gleason LJ, Sanghavi P .
Accuracy of pressure ulcer events in US nursing home ratings.
Med Care 2022 Oct;60(10):775-83. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000001763.
AHRQ-funded; HS026957..
AHRQ-funded; HS026957..
Keywords: Elderly, Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Pressure Ulcers, Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Patient Safety
Uribe-Cano D, Bahranian M, Jolles SA
Comparison of criteria for determining appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing in nursing homes.
Researchers studied the extent to which the revised McGeer and Loeb criteria overlap and can be used interchangeably for tracking antibiotic appropriateness in nursing homes. Using a cross-sectional chart review in 5 Wisconsin nursing homes, they found that levels of agreement between the revised McGeer and Loeb criteria were moderate for urinary tract infections, fair for skin and soft-tissue infections, and slight for respiratory tract infections. They concluded that agreement between the revised McGeer and Loeb criteria is limited, and that nursing homes should employ the revised McGeer and Loeb criteria for their intended purposes.
AHRQ-funded; HS022465.
Citation: Uribe-Cano D, Bahranian M, Jolles SA .
Comparison of criteria for determining appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing in nursing homes.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2022 Jul;43(7):860-63. doi: 10.1017/ice.2021.221..
Keywords: Elderly, Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Antibiotics, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Medication
Liu MA, Keeney T, Papaila A
Functional status and survival in older nursing home residents with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a SEER-Medicare analysis.
The purpose of this study was to examine the association between activities of daily living (ADL) impairment and overall survival in patients 65 and older with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving care in nursing homes from 2011 to 2015. The researchers examined the association between ADL scores and overall survival among 3,174 patients who received systemic cancer chemotherapy or immunotherapy within 3 months of NSCLC diagnosis; and among patients who did not receive any treatment. The study found that the ADL score was associated with increased risk of death. One standard deviation increase in the ADL score was associated with lower overall survival rate among treated and untreated patients The median overall survival was 3.1 months for patients with an ADL score of less than 14, 2.8 months for patients with an ADL score between 14 and 17, 2.3 months for patients with ADL score between 18-19, and 1.8 months for patients with ADL score of 20+. The researchers concluded that the ADL assessment may be a useful clinical tool in nursing home adults aged 65 and older with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.
AHRQ-funded; HS000011.
Citation: Liu MA, Keeney T, Papaila A .
Functional status and survival in older nursing home residents with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a SEER-Medicare analysis.
JCO Oncol Pract 2022 Jun;18(6):e886-e95. doi: 10.1200/op.21.00460..
Keywords: Elderly, Nursing Homes, Cancer: Lung Cancer, Cancer
Dube WC, Kellogg JT, Adams C
Quantifying risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection among nursing home workers for the 2020-2021 winter surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia, USA.
This study’s objective was to estimate incidence of risks for COVID-19 infection among nursing home staff in the state of Georgia during the 2020-2021 Winter surge in the US. Staff at fourteen nursing homes were given a survey and serologic testing at 2 time points with 3-month interval exposure assessment. At the first time point, 203 study eligible contracted or employed staff members from these participating nursing homes were seronegative. At the second time point, 72 (35.5%) had evidence of interval infection. Among unvaccinated staff, infection rates were significantly higher among nurses and certified nursing assistants accounting for race and interval infection incidence in both the community and facility.
AHRQ-funded; HS025987.
Citation: Dube WC, Kellogg JT, Adams C .
Quantifying risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection among nursing home workers for the 2020-2021 winter surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia, USA.
J Am Med Dir Assoc 2022 Jun;23(6):942-46.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2022.02.014..
Keywords: COVID-19, Nursing Homes, Provider: Health Personnel, Risk, Public Health
Wang J, Mao Y, McGarry B
Post-acute care transitions and outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries in assisted living communities.
This study examined the post-acute care transitions among assisted living (AL) residents and their association with outcomes in the first 30 and 60 days after hospital discharge. Findings showed that the most common post-acute care referral was to skilled nursing facilities (SNF), followed by home without home health care (HHC), home with HHC, and others. Compared to discharge home without HHC, discharge to SNF was associated with a lower likelihood of ED visits and hospital readmissions, and higher likelihood of long-stay nursing home placement and mortality. Discharge home with HHC was associated with a higher likelihood of hospital readmissions and a lower likelihood of long-stay nursing home placement than discharge home without HHC. The results were similar within the first 30 days and 60 days after hospital discharge.
AHRQ-funded; HS026893.
Citation: Wang J, Mao Y, McGarry B .
Post-acute care transitions and outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries in assisted living communities.
J Am Geriatr Soc 2022 May;70(5):1429-41. doi: 10.1111/jgs.17669..
Keywords: Elderly, Medicare, Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care
Kistler CE, Wretman Zimmerman, S S
Overdiagnosis of urinary tract infections by nursing home clinicians versus a clinical guideline.
The purpose of this study was to examine the concordance between clinicians' diagnosis of suspected urinary tract infection (UTI) with a clinical guideline treated as the gold standard, in order to inform overprescribing and antibiotic stewardship in nursing homes. The authors conducted a cross-sectional web-based survey of a national convenience sample of nursing-home clinicians, including a discrete choice experiment with 19 randomly selected scenarios of nursing-home residents with possible UTIs. Responses were compared to the guideline. The results indicated that nursing-home clinicians tend to over-diagnose UTI. The authors concluded that this necessitates systems-based interventions to augment clinical decisionmaking.
AHRQ-funded; HS024519.
Citation: Kistler CE, Wretman Zimmerman, S S .
Overdiagnosis of urinary tract infections by nursing home clinicians versus a clinical guideline.
J Am Geriatr Soc 2022 Apr;70(4):1070-81. doi: 10.1111/jgs.17638..
Keywords: Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), Guidelines, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Shared Decision Making
Alexander GL, Deroche CB, Powell KR
Development and pilot analysis of the nursing home health information technology maturity survey and staging model.
The purpose of this study was the development, psychometric testing, and analysis of a survey instrument and staging model for nursing home health information technology (HIT). The nursing homes (NH) were selected for inclusion in the study based on their HIT scores from a prior study. Researchers recruited 121 NH administrators from January to May 2019 from primarily for-profit, metropolitan nursing homes with medium bed size. The researchers reported that all dimensions and domains were significantly correlated, with the exception of the variables of integration in administrative activities and HIT capabilities. All items loaded intuitively onto four components, explaining 80% of the variance. The researchers concluded that the HIT maturity survey can be used to make reliable assumptions about nursing home health information technology.
AHRQ-funded; HS022497.
Citation: Alexander GL, Deroche CB, Powell KR .
Development and pilot analysis of the nursing home health information technology maturity survey and staging model.
Res Gerontol Nurs 2022 Mar-Apr;15(2):93-99. doi: 10.3928/19404921-20220218-04..
Keywords: Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Health Information Technology (HIT)
Cannon JL, Park GW, Anderson B
Hygienic monitoring in long-term care facilities using ATP, crAssphage, and human noroviruses to direct environmental surface cleaning.
Norovirus and C. difficile can be transmitted by contaminated environmental surfaces and are associated with diarrheal illnesses and deaths in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Hygienic monitoring tools such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence and indicators of fecal contamination can help to identify LTC facility surfaces with cleaning deficiencies. The researchers swabbed and tested high-touch surfaces in 11 LTC facilities for contamination by norovirus, a fecal indicator virus, crAssphage, and ATP. The study found that greater than 90% of surfaces tested positive for crAssphage or failed in their ATP scores. Norovirus contamination was not detected. Handrails, equipment controls, and patient beds were 4 times more likely than other surfaces or locations to have high levels of crAssphage. Patient bed handrails and tables and chairs in patient lounges had high levels of both ATP and crAssphage.
AHRQ-funded; HS025987.
Citation: Cannon JL, Park GW, Anderson B .
Hygienic monitoring in long-term care facilities using ATP, crAssphage, and human noroviruses to direct environmental surface cleaning.
Am J Infect Control 2022 Mar; 50(3):289-94. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2021.11.014..
Keywords: Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Prevention, Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), Clostridium difficile Infections
Konetzka RT, Davila H, Brauner DJ
The quality measures domain in Nursing Home Compare: is high performance meaningful or misleading?
The Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services publishes a Nursing Home Compare (NHC) web site that provides information to compare nursing homes across the nation. Since NHC began reporting the percent of nursing home residents suffering adverse outcomes, the negative outcomes decreased dramatically. However, the validity of scores has been questioned for nursing homes that score well on facility-reported measures but scored poorly on inspections. The study purpose was to determine whether nursing homes with these “discordant” scores are better than nursing homes that score poorly across all domains. The researchers analyzed national data from 2012- 2016, conducted in-depth interviews and observations of 12 nursing homes in 2017 to 2018, and studied nursing home performance trajectories over time. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized and interpreted together. The study found that facilities identified as discordant took part in more quality improvement (QI) activities than those identified as poor performers, but those QI activities were lower-resource improvements and not of the type and scope that would impact improvements across other quality domains. It was determined that the poor-performing facilities appeared to lack the leadership and staff continuity required for even low-resource improvements. The study concluded that while high performance on quality measures using facility-reported data is mostly meaningful, and the quality measures domain should continue to be utilized in Nursing Home Compare, facilities identified as discordant still have quality defects.
AHRQ-funded; HS024967.
Citation: Konetzka RT, Davila H, Brauner DJ .
The quality measures domain in Nursing Home Compare: is high performance meaningful or misleading?
Gerontologist 2022 Feb 9;62(2):293-303. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnab054..
Keywords: Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Provider Performance, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care
Li Y, Cheng Z, Cai X
State social distancing restrictions and nursing home outcomes.
This study examined how state orders for social distancing to curb COVID-19 morbidity and mortality affected nursing home patients and what potential negative health consequences they may have had. The authors examined state social distancing restrictions from June to August of 2020 and their associations with the weekly numbers of new COVID cases, new COVID deaths, and new non-COVID deaths in nursing homes across the US. They found that stronger state social distancing measures were associated with improved outcomes, reduced across-facility disparities in COVID outcomes, and somewhat increased non-COVID-19 death rates. The estimates for non-COVID-19 deaths were sensitive to alternative model specifications.
AHRQ-funded; HS026893; HS024923.
Citation: Li Y, Cheng Z, Cai X .
State social distancing restrictions and nursing home outcomes.
Sci Rep 2022 Jan 20;12(1):1058. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-05011-6..
Keywords: COVID-19, Nursing Homes, Prevention, Public Health
Rosenthal M, Poling J, Wec A
"Medication is just one piece of the whole puzzle": how nursing homes change their use of antipsychotic medications.
This article investigated health professionals’ experiences with decision-making during changes under the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes and its companion coalitions. These programs were introduced in 2012 for the purpose of encouraging reductions in antipsychotic use and increasing use of nonpharmacological treatments for dementia. Interviews were conducted with 40 nursing home physicians and staff in seven states. The authors found that reducing antipsychotics is more time and resource-intensive than relying on medication. However, respondents supported reductions in antipsychotic use. They indicated that with supported staffing, effective communications, and training, they could create or implement individualized treatments.
AHRQ-funded; HS023464.
Citation: Rosenthal M, Poling J, Wec A .
"Medication is just one piece of the whole puzzle": how nursing homes change their use of antipsychotic medications.
J Appl Gerontol 2022 Jan;41(1):62-72. doi: 10.1177/0733464820958919..
Keywords: Elderly, Medication, Nursing Homes, Dementia, Neurological Disorders, Long-Term Care, Shared Decision Making
Yount N, Zebrak KA, Famolaro T
Linking patient safety culture to quality ratings in the nursing home setting.
This study examined the relationship between scores on the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) Nursing Home Survey (NH SOPS) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Nursing Home Five-Star Quality Ratings. The authors used data on 186 nursing homes to conduct multiple regression analyses predicting the Five-Star Quality Ratings from the NH SOPS survey measures. Five NH SOPS measures were related to the Overall, Health Inspections, and Quality Five-Star Ratings; four NH SOPS measures were related to at least two of the four Five-Star Quality Ratings and three SOPS measures were related to one Five-Star Rating. No NH SOPS measures were significantly associated with the Staffing Five-Star Rating.
AHRQ-funded; 233201500026I.
Citation: Yount N, Zebrak KA, Famolaro T .
Linking patient safety culture to quality ratings in the nursing home setting.
J Appl Gerontol 2022 Jan;41(1):73-81. doi: 10.1177/0733464820969283..
Keywords: Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Patient Safety, Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care