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AHRQ Research Studies
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Research Studies is a compilation of published research articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers.
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1 to 4 of 4 Research Studies DisplayedMurphy DR, Zimolzak AJ, Upadhyay DK
Developing electronic clinical quality measures to assess the cancer diagnostic process.
Electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) to evaluate quality of cancer diagnosis could facilitate quantification and improvement of diagnostic performance. The purpose of this study was to developed 2 eCQMs to evaluate diagnostic assessment of red-flag clinical findings for colorectal cancer (CRC) and lung cancer. At each site the researchers assessed 100 positive and 20 negative randomly chosen records for each eCQM at each site to validate accuracy and categorized missed opportunities associated with system, provider, or patient factors. The researchers applied the CRC eCQM at both sites, while the lung cancer eCQM was only applied at the VA due to an absence of structured data indicating level of cancer suspicion on most chest imaging results at Geisinger. The study found that for the CRC eCQM, the appropriate follow-up took place in 26, 746 out of 74, 314 patients (36.0%) in the VA after removing clinical exclusions and in 1,009 out of 2,461 patients (41.1%) at Geisinger. The appropriate assessment for lung cancer in the VA took place in 25, 166 out of 40, 924 patients (61.5). Provider factors were cited by reviewers the primary source of missed opportunities at both sites.
AHRQ-funded; HS022087.
Citation: Murphy DR, Zimolzak AJ, Upadhyay DK .
Developing electronic clinical quality measures to assess the cancer diagnostic process.
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2023 Aug 18; 30(9):1526-31. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocad089..
Keywords: Cancer: Lung Cancer, Cancer, Quality Measures, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Quality of Care
Radhakrishnan A, Reyes-Gastelum D, Abrahamse P
Physician specialties involved in thyroid cancer diagnosis and treatment: implications for improving health care disparities.
The authors sought to characterize providers involved in diagnosing and treating thyroid cancer. Patients with differentiated thyroid cancer from the Georgia and Los Angeles County Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registries were surveyed. The authors found that, among thyroid cancer patients, 40.6% reported being informed of their diagnosis by their surgeon, 37.9% by their endocrinologist, and 13.5% by their primary care physician (PCP). The researchers concluded that PCPs were involved in thyroid cancer diagnosis and treatment, and their involvement was greater among older patients and patients of minority race/ethnicity.
AHRQ-funded; HS024512.
Citation: Radhakrishnan A, Reyes-Gastelum D, Abrahamse P .
Physician specialties involved in thyroid cancer diagnosis and treatment: implications for improving health care disparities.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2022 Feb 17;107(3):e1096-e105. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgab781..
Keywords: Cancer, Disparities, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Practice Patterns, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Rauscher GH, Tossas-Milligan K, Macarol T
Trends in attaining mammography quality benchmarks with repeated participation in a quality measurement program: going beyond the mammography quality standards act to address breast cancer disparities.
The Mammography Quality Standards Act requires that mammography facilities conduct audits, but there are no specifications on the metrics to be measured. In this study, the authors present trends from the first 5 years of data collection to examine whether continued participation in this quality improvement program was associated with an increase in the number of benchmarks met for breast cancer screening.
AHRQ-funded; HS018366.
Citation: Rauscher GH, Tossas-Milligan K, Macarol T .
Trends in attaining mammography quality benchmarks with repeated participation in a quality measurement program: going beyond the mammography quality standards act to address breast cancer disparities.
J Am Coll Radiol 2020 Nov;17(11):1420-28. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2020.07.019..
Keywords: Cancer: Breast Cancer, Cancer, Women, Screening, Quality Measures, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Diagnostic Safety and Quality
Lyratzopoulos G, Vedsted P, Singh H
Understanding missed opportunities for more timely diagnosis of cancer in symptomatic patients after presentation.
The authors highlight factors involved in missed opportunities to diagnose cancer more promptly in symptomatic patients and discuss responsible mechanisms and potential strategies to shorten intervals from presentation to diagnosis. They also provide a conceptual foundation for the development of future interventions to minimize the occurrence of missed opportunities in cancer diagnosis.
AHRQ-funded; HS022087.
Citation: Lyratzopoulos G, Vedsted P, Singh H .
Understanding missed opportunities for more timely diagnosis of cancer in symptomatic patients after presentation.
Br J Cancer 2015 Mar 31;112 Suppl 1:S84-91. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2015.47..
Keywords: Cancer, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Quality of Care