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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.
Results
26 to 50 of 757 Research Studies DisplayedTroncoso R, Garfinkel EM, Hinson JS
Do prehospital sepsis alerts decrease time to complete CMS sepsis measures?
This retrospective cohort study examined the effects of a prehospital sepsis alert protocol on decreasing time to complete Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sepsis core measures. The study included patients transported via EMS from December 1, 2018 to December 1, 2019 who met the criteria of the Maryland Statewide EMS sepsis protocol and compared outcomes between patients who activated a prehospital sepsis alert and patients who did not activate a prehospital sepsis alert. The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems had developed a sepsis protocol that instructed EMS providers to notify the nearest appropriate facility with a sepsis alert if a patient 18 years of age and older is suspected of having an infection and also presented with at least two of the following: temperature >38 °C or <35.5 °C, a heart rate >100 beats per minute, a respiratory rate >25 breaths per minute or end-tidal carbon dioxide less than or equal to 32 mmHg, a systolic blood pressure <90 mmHg, or a point of care lactate reading greater than or equal to 4 mmol/L. Median time to achieve all four studied CMS sepsis core measures was 103 min for patients who received a prehospital sepsis alert and 106.5 min for patients who did not receive a prehospital sepsis alert. Median time to completion was shorter for serum lactate collection (28 min. vs 35 min.), blood culture collection (28 min. vs 38 min.), and intravenous fluid administration (54 min. vs 61 min.) but was not significantly different for antibiotic administration (94 min. vs 103 min.) among patients who triggered a sepsis alert. The results question the effectiveness of prehospital sepsis alert protocols on decreasing time to complete CMS sepsis core measures.
AHRQ-funded; HS026640.
Citation: Troncoso R, Garfinkel EM, Hinson JS .
Do prehospital sepsis alerts decrease time to complete CMS sepsis measures?
Am J Emerg Med 2023 Sep; 71:81-85. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2023.06.024..
Keywords: Sepsis, Hospitals
Mullens CL, Lussiez A, Scott JW
High-risk surgery among Medicare beneficiaries living in health professional shortage areas.
This study’s objective was to compare high-risk surgical outcomes at hospitals located in Health Professional Shortage Areas to nonshortage area designated hospitals among Medicare beneficiaries. The authors performed a retrospective review of Medicare beneficiaries living in health professional shortage areas and nonshortage areas who underwent abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, coronary artery bypass graft, esophagectomy, liver resection, pancreatectomy, or rectal resection between 2014 and 2018. They compared rates of postoperative complications and 30-day mortality between the patient cohorts. They used beneficiary and hospital ZIP codes to quantify travel time to obtain care. Compared with patients living in nonshortage areas, patients living in health professional shortage areas traveled longer (median 60.0 vs 28.0 minutes). There were no differences in risk-adjusted rates of complications (28.5% vs 28.6%) and small differences in rates of 30-day mortality (4.2% vs 4.4%) between beneficiaries living in shortage areas versus those not in shortage areas, respectively.
AHRQ-funded; HS028606; HS028672; HS027788.
Citation: Mullens CL, Lussiez A, Scott JW .
High-risk surgery among Medicare beneficiaries living in health professional shortage areas.
J Rural Health 2023 Sep; 39(4):824-32. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12748..
Keywords: Surgery, Hospitals, Workforce, Medicare, Outcomes
McGarry BE, Mao Y, Nelson D
Hospital proximity and emergency department use among assisted living residents.
The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to explore the association between the distance of assisted living (AL) communities to the nearest hospital and AL residents' rates of emergency department (ED) utilization. The researchers hypothesized that when access to an ED is a shorter distance, AL-to-ED transfers are more common, especially for non-emergency conditions. The study found that among 540,944 resident-years from 16,514 AL communities, the median distance to the closest hospital was 2.5 miles. After statistical adjustment, a doubling of distance to the closest hospital was related with 43.5 fewer ED treat-and-release visits per 1000 resident years and no significant difference in the rate of ED visits resulting in an inpatient admission. Among ED treat-and-release visits, a doubling of distance was related with a 3.0% decrease in visits classified as nonemergent, and a 1.6% decrease in visits classified as emergent, not primary care treatable.
AHRQ-funded; HS026893.
Citation: McGarry BE, Mao Y, Nelson D .
Hospital proximity and emergency department use among assisted living residents.
J Am Med Dir Assoc 2023 Sep; 24(9):1349-55.e.5. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2023.05.002..
Keywords: Emergency Department, Elderly, Long-Term Care, Medicare, Hospitals
Chen JT, Mehrizi R, Aasman B
Long short-term memory model identifies ARDS and in-hospital mortality in both non-COVID-19 and COVID-19 cohort.
The objective of this study was to identify risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and in-hospital mortality using a long short-term memory (LSTM) framework in mechanically ventilated (MV) COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 cohorts. The results indicated that the LSTM algorithm accurately identified the risk of ARDS or death in both non-COVID-19 and COVID MV patients. The researchers concluded that a tool that alerts to the risk of ARDS or death can improve the implementation of evidence-based ARDS management and facilitate goals-of-care discussions involving high-risk patients.
AHRQ-funded; HS026188.
Citation: Chen JT, Mehrizi R, Aasman B .
Long short-term memory model identifies ARDS and in-hospital mortality in both non-COVID-19 and COVID-19 cohort.
BMJ Health Care Inform 2023 Sep; 30(1). doi: 10.1136/bmjhci-2023-100782..
Keywords: COVID-19, Mortality, Hospitals, Inpatient Care
Zhu Y, Wang Z, Newman-Toker D
Misdiagnosis-related harm quantification through mixture models and harm measures.
Investigating and monitoring misdiagnosis-related harm utilizing the traditional chart review process is labor intensive, potentially unstable, and not conducive to scaling. Researchers propose to leverage the association between symptoms and diseases based on electronic health records or claim data. Specifically, the increased risk of disease after a false-negative diagnosis can be utilized as an indicator of potential harm. The researcher report that the problem with off-the-shelf statistical methods to assess these dynamics is that they do not fully accommodate the data structure of a well-hypothesized risk pattern and thus fail to sufficiently address the unique challenges. The purpose of this study was to explore a mixture regression model and its associated goodness-of-fit testing to address the existing gaps seen in usual statistical analysis methods. The researchers additionally proposed harm measures and profiling analysis procedures to quantify, assess, and compare misdiagnosis-related harm across institutes with potentially differing patient population compositions. Simulation studies were utilized to study the performance of the proposed methods. Researchers then applied and demonstrated the methods through data analyses on stroke occurrence data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. From those analyses risk factors for being harmed due to misdiagnosis were assessed, which revealed insights for health care quality research. Finally, researchers compared general and special care hospitals in Taiwan and observed better diagnostic performance in special care hospitals utilizing a variety of new assessment measures.
AHRQ-funded; HS027614.
Citation: Zhu Y, Wang Z, Newman-Toker D .
Misdiagnosis-related harm quantification through mixture models and harm measures.
Biometrics 2023 Sep; 79(3):2633-48. doi: 10.1111/biom.13759..
Keywords: Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Patient Safety, Hospitals
Mullens CL, Scott JW, Mead M
Surgical procedures at critical access hospitals within hospital networks.
Critical access hospitals provide vital care to more than 80 million Americans. These facilities, often rural, are located greater than 35 miles away from another hospital and are required to maintain patient transfer agreements with other facilities capable of providing higher levels of care. The purpose of this cross-sectional retrospective study was to assess surgical outcomes and expenditures at critical access hospitals that do participate in a hospital network compared with those who do not participate in a hospital network among Medicare beneficiaries. From 2014 to 2018 the researchers compared 16,128 Medicare beneficiary admissions for appendectomy, cholecystectomy, colectomy, or hernia repair at critical access hospitals. The study found that Medicare beneficiaries who received care at critical access hospitals in a hospital network were more likely to carry 2 or more Elixhauser comorbidities. Rates of 30-day mortality and readmission rates were higher at critical access hospitals in a hospital network. Finally, total payments per episode were discovered to be $960 greater per patient at critical access hospitals that were in a hospital network ($23,878) when compared with critical access hospitals that were not in a hospital network ($22,918).
AHRQ-funded; HS028606; HS028672; HS027788.
Citation: Mullens CL, Scott JW, Mead M .
Surgical procedures at critical access hospitals within hospital networks.
Ann Surg 2023 Sep 1; 278(3):e496-e502. doi: 10.1097/sla.0000000000005772..
Keywords: Surgery, Hospitals, Medicare
Jayadevappa R, Malkowicz SB, Vapiwala N
Association between hospital competition and quality of prostate cancer care.
The purpose of this retrospective study was to explore the relationship between hospital competition and outcomes in elderly with localized prostate cancer (PCa). The researchers also evaluated whether race moderated the relationship. The researchers applied the Hirschman-Herfindahl index (HHI) to measure hospital competition. The study outcomes were emergency room (ER) visits, hospitalizations, Medicare expenditure and mortality assessed in acute survivorship phase (two years post-PCa diagnosis), and long-term mortality. The study found that among 253,176 patients, percent change in incident rate of ER visit was 17% higher for one unit increase in HHI. Incident rate of ER was 24% higher for whites and 48% higher for African Americans. For one unit increase in HHI, hazard of short-term all-cause mortality was 7% higher for whites and 11% lower for African Americans. The hazard of long-term all-cause mortality was 10% higher for whites and 13% higher for African Americans.
AHRQ-funded; HS024106.
Citation: Jayadevappa R, Malkowicz SB, Vapiwala N .
Association between hospital competition and quality of prostate cancer care.
BMC Health Serv Res 2023 Aug 5; 23(1):828. doi: 10.1186/s12913-023-09851-4..
Keywords: Cancer: Prostate Cancer, Cancer, Men's Health, Hospitals, Quality of Care
Nguyen JK, P P
Comparison of survival outcomes among older adults with major trauma after trauma center versus non-trauma center care in the United States.
This study’s objective was to compare level 1 and 2 trauma centers with similarly sized non-trauma centers on survival after major trauma among older adults. The authors used claims of 100% of 2012-2017 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries who received hospital care after major trauma. They assessed the roles of prehospital care, hospital quality, and volume. Thirty-day mortality was higher overall at level 1 versus non-trauma centers by 2.2 percentage points (pp). Thirty-day mortality was higher at level 1 versus non-trauma centers by 2.3 pp for falls and 2.3 pp for motor vehicle crashes. Outcomes were similar at level 1 and 2 trauma centers. The difference was not explained by hospital quality and volume. There were also no statistical differences in the ambulance-transported group, after adjusting for prehospital variables.
AHRQ-funded; HS025720.
Citation: Nguyen JK, P P .
Comparison of survival outcomes among older adults with major trauma after trauma center versus non-trauma center care in the United States.
Health Serv Res 2023 Aug; 58(4):817-27. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.14148..
Keywords: Elderly, Trauma, Outcomes, Injuries and Wounds, Emergency Department, Hospitals
Faerber JA, Xiao R, Makeneni S
Sustainment of continuous pulse oximetry deimplementation: analysis of eliminating monitor overuse study data from six hospitals.
The purpose of this longitudinal analysis from the Eliminating Monitor Overuse (EMO) study was to evaluate changes in continuous pulse oximetry cSpO(2) overuse before, during, and after intensive cSpO(2) -deimplementation efforts in six hospitals. The researchers collected monitoring data during three phases of the study: 1) "P1" baseline, 2) "P2" active deimplementation (all sites involved in education and audit and feedback strategies), and 3) "P3" sustainment (a new baseline measured after strategies were withdrawn). 2,053 observations were analyzed. The study found that each hospital experienced reductions during active deimplementation (P2), with overall adjusted cSpO(2) overuse decreasing from 53% to 22%, between P1 and P2. However, following the withdrawal of deimplementation strategies, overuse rebounded in all six sites, with overall adjusted cSpO(2) overuse increasing to 37% in P3.
AHRQ-funded; HS026763.
Citation: Faerber JA, Xiao R, Makeneni S .
Sustainment of continuous pulse oximetry deimplementation: analysis of eliminating monitor overuse study data from six hospitals.
J Hosp Med 2023 Aug; 18(8):724-29. doi: 10.1002/jhm.13154..
Keywords: Hospitals, Inpatient Care
Silver CM, Yang AD, Shan Y
Changes in surgical outcomes in a Statewide Quality Improvement Collaborative with introduction of simultaneous, comprehensive interventions.
Researchers investigated whether a comprehensive quality improvement program implemented simultaneously across hospitals at the formation of a quality improvement collaborative (QIC) would improve patient outcomes. They analyzed risk-adjusted rates of postoperative morbidity and mortality for patients who had undergone surgery at hospitals in the Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative (ISQIC); analyses compared ISQIC hospitals with hospitals in the NSQIP Participant Use File (PUF). Although complication rates decreased at both ISQIC and PUF hospitals, findings showed that participation in ISQIC was associated with a significantly greater improvement in death or serious morbidity. The researchers concluded that these results emphasize the potential of QICs to improve patient outcomes.
AHRQ-funded; HS024516.
Citation: Silver CM, Yang AD, Shan Y .
Changes in surgical outcomes in a Statewide Quality Improvement Collaborative with introduction of simultaneous, comprehensive interventions.
J Am Coll Surg 2023 Jul 1; 237(1):128-38. doi: 10.1097/xcs.0000000000000679..
Keywords: Surgery, Outcomes, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Hospitals
Smith DC, Phillippi JC, Tilden EL
Comparing cesarean birth utilization between US hospitals: a demonstration of the robson ten-group classification system for use in quality improvement and benchmarking.
The objective of this study was to describe the application and utility of the World Health Organization-endorsed Robson Ten-Group Classification System (TGCS) to compare hospital-level cesarean births rates for use in quality improvement and benchmarking. The authors conducted a descriptive, secondary data analysis of the Consortium on Safe Labor dataset using data from births from 2002-08 at 12 sites across the US. Results showed a variation in use of cesarean birth, labor induction, and trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) across the 12 sites. The authors concluded that TGCS provides a method for between-hospital comparisons and adoption of TGCS in the US would provide an effective benchmarking tool to assist in reducing the use of cesarean birth and increasing the support of TOLAC.
AHRQ-funded; HS024733.
Citation: Smith DC, Phillippi JC, Tilden EL .
Comparing cesarean birth utilization between US hospitals: a demonstration of the robson ten-group classification system for use in quality improvement and benchmarking.
J Perinat Neonatal Nurs 2023 Jul-Sep; 37(3):214-22. doi: 10.1097/jpn.0000000000000670..
Keywords: Hospitals, Healthcare Utilization, Maternal Care, Women, Quality Improvement, Quality Measures, Quality of Care
Desai SM, Padmanabhan P, Chen AZ
Hospital concentration and low-income populations: evidence from New York State Medicaid.
The purpose of this study was to utilize comprehensive discharge data from New York State to assess the effects of changes in market concentration on hospital-level inpatient Medicaid volumes. The study found that for the average hospital, a one percent increase in HHI led to a 0.6% decrease in the number of Medicaid admissions. The strongest effects were on admissions for birth. These hospital-level decreases primarily reflect redistribution of Medicaid patients across hospitals, rather than overall reductions in hospitalizations for Medicaid patients. Specifically, hospital concentration leads to a redistribution of admissions from non-profit hospitals to public hospitals. The researchers found evidence that for births, physicians serving high proportions of Medicaid beneficiaries experience decreased admissions as concentration increased.
AHRQ-funded; HS026980.
Citation: Desai SM, Padmanabhan P, Chen AZ .
Hospital concentration and low-income populations: evidence from New York State Medicaid.
J Health Econ 2023 Jul; 90:102770. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2023.102770..
Keywords: Hospitals, Low-Income, Medicaid
Congdon M, Rauch B, Carroll B
Opportunities for diagnostic improvement among pediatric hospital readmissions.
The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to: 1) identify and describe diagnostic errors, termed "missed opportunities for improving diagnosis" (MOIDs) in general pediatric patients who experienced hospital readmission, 2) outline improvement opportunities, and 3) explore factors associated with increased risk of MOID. The researchers included unplanned readmissions within 15 days of discharge from a freestanding children's hospital between October 2018 and September 2020. Health records were reviewed and discussed by practicing inpatient physicians to identify MOIDs using SaferDx, an established instrument. MOIDs were evaluated using a diagnostic-specific tool to identify improvement opportunities within the diagnostic process. The study found that MOIDs were identified in 6.3% of 348 readmissions. Opportunities for improvement included: delay in considering the correct diagnosis (50%) and failure to order needed test (45%). Patients with MOIDs were older than patients without MOIDs but similar in gender, primary language, race, ethnicity, and insurance type. The researchers did not identify conditions related with higher risk of MOID. Lower respiratory tract infections accounted for 26% of admission diagnoses but only 1 (4.5%) case of MOID.
AHRQ-funded; HS028682.
Citation: Congdon M, Rauch B, Carroll B .
Opportunities for diagnostic improvement among pediatric hospital readmissions.
Hosp Pediatr 2023 Jul; 13(7):563-71. doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2023-007157..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Hospitals, Hospital Readmissions
Wang Y, Eldridge N, Metersky ML
AHRQ Author: Eldridge N and Rodrick D
Relationship between in-hospital adverse events and hospital performance on 30-day all-cause mortality and readmission for patients with heart failure.
Researchers sought to evaluate the association between hospital performance on mortality and readmission with hospital performance on safety adverse event rates. Their cross-sectional study linked patient-level adverse events data from the Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System to hospital-level, heart failure (HF)-specific, 30-day, all-cause mortality and readmissions data from CMS. The study included data on over 39,000 patients with HF from over 3000 hospitals. Patients admitted with HF to hospitals with high 30-day, all-cause mortality and readmission rates had a higher risk of in-hospital adverse events. The researchers concluded that there might be common quality issues among the measure concepts in these hospitals that produce poor performance for patients with HF.
AHRQ-funded; AHRQ-authored; 290201800005C.
Citation: Wang Y, Eldridge N, Metersky ML .
Relationship between in-hospital adverse events and hospital performance on 30-day all-cause mortality and readmission for patients with heart failure.
Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes 2023 Jul; 16(7):e009573. doi: 10.1161/circoutcomes.122.009573..
Keywords: Hospitals, Hospital Readmissions, Heart Disease and Health, Cardiovascular Conditions, Adverse Events, Provider Performance
Arbaje AI, Woodman S, Keita Fakeye MB
Senior services in US hospitals and readmission risk or mortality among Medicare beneficiaries since the Affordable Care Act.
This study examined whether there was an association between readmission risk or mortality among Medicare beneficiaries and passage of the Affordable Care Act. The study updated the Senior Care Services Scale (SCSS) which describes hospital provision of older adult services before the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The authors conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of older adults ≥65 years (n = 1,416,669), admitted to 2570 US acute-care hospitals from 2014 to 2015. Outcomes were hospital readmission, or death, within 30 and 90 days of discharge. The updated SCSS included three service groups: Inpatient Specialty Care, Post-Acute Community Care, and Home Care and Hospice. Older adults admitted to high Inpatient-Specialty-Care-scoring hospitals had lower risk of death within 30 days, and 90 days. There was no significant association between the other two groups and study outcomes.
AHRQ-funded; HS022916.
Citation: Arbaje AI, Woodman S, Keita Fakeye MB .
Senior services in US hospitals and readmission risk or mortality among Medicare beneficiaries since the Affordable Care Act.
J Appl Gerontol 2023 Jul; 42(7):1424-32. doi: 10.1177/07334648231161925..
Keywords: Elderly, Hospitals, Hospital Readmissions, Medicare
MacEwan SR, Gaughan AA, Beal EW
Concerns and frustrations about the public reporting of device-related healthcare-associated infections: perspectives of hospital leaders and staff.
The purpose of this study was to explore the specific concerns of hospital leaders and staff regarding the identification and public reporting of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Between 2017 and 2019 the researchers conducted interviews with 471 participants including hospitals leaders and hospital staff across 18 United States hospitals. The study found that interviewees discussed concerns about public reporting of HAI data, including a lack of trust in the data and unintended consequences of its public reporting, as well as particular frustrations with the identification and accountability for publicly-reported HAIs.
AHRQ-funded; HS024958.
Citation: MacEwan SR, Gaughan AA, Beal EW .
Concerns and frustrations about the public reporting of device-related healthcare-associated infections: perspectives of hospital leaders and staff.
Am J Infect Control 2023 Jun; 51(6):633-37. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2022.08.003..
Keywords: Medical Devices, Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), Hospitals, Provider: Health Personnel
Trenaman L, Harrison M, Hoch JS
Medicare beneficiaries' perspectives on the quality of hospital care and their implications for value-based payment.
The objective of this study was to estimate the relative importance of the 4 quality domains in the Medicare's Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) program from the perspective of Medicare beneficiaries and the impact of using beneficiary value weights on incentive payments for hospitals enrolled in FY 2019. A nationally representative sample of 1025 Medicare beneficiaries was recruited through Ipsos KnowledgePanel for an online survey. Hospital performance on clinical outcomes was most highly valued by beneficiaries, followed by safety, patient experience, and efficiency. The authors concluded that current HVBP program value weights do not reflect beneficiary preferences, suggesting that the use of beneficiary value weights may exacerbate disparities by rewarding larger, high-volume hospitals.
AHRQ-funded; HS027853.
Citation: Trenaman L, Harrison M, Hoch JS .
Medicare beneficiaries' perspectives on the quality of hospital care and their implications for value-based payment.
JAMA Netw Open 2023 Jun; 6(6):e2319047. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.19047..
Keywords: Medicare, Inpatient Care, Hospitals
Hansen CJ, Rayo MF, Patterson ES
Perceptually discriminating the highest priority alarms reduces response time: a retrospective pre-post study at four hospitals.
Emergency alarms are the most urgent of hospital alarms, necessitating immediate attention and action to address a dangerous situation. These alarms are triggered by clinicians and have greater positive predictive value (PPV). High-priority alarms are different from emergency alarms, are automatically triggered, and have lower PPV. The purpose of this retrospective pre-post study was to decrease nurse response time for emergency alarms and high-priority alarms by improving the discernability between emergency alarms and all other alarms, as well as by suppressing redundant and false alarms in a secondary alarm notification system (SANS). The researchers analyzed data 15 months prior to and 25 months after a SANS redesign was implemented in four hospitals. For emergency alarms, the researchers integrated digitized human speech features to distinguish the emergency alarms from the automatically triggered alarms, leaving their onset and escalation pathways unaltered. The researchers suppressed some of the automatically triggered alarms by delaying their initial onset and escalation by 20 seconds. The study found that response time for emergency alarms decreased at all hospitals ad the improvements were sustained. The use of automatically triggered alarms decreased 25.0%. Response time for the three automatically triggered cardiac alarms increased at the four hospitals.
AHRQ-funded; HS024379.
Citation: Hansen CJ, Rayo MF, Patterson ES .
Perceptually discriminating the highest priority alarms reduces response time: a retrospective pre-post study at four hospitals.
Hum Factors 2023 Jun; 65(4):636-50. doi: 10.1177/00187208211032870..
Keywords: Hospitals, Nursing
Auerbach AD, Astik GJ, O'Leary KJ
Prevalence and causes of diagnostic errors in hospitalized patients under investigation for COVID-19.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, clinicians were required to address a disease with continuously changing traits while simultaneously complying with changes in care (e.g., physical distancing) that could contribute to diagnostic errors (DEs). The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of DEs and their causes in patients hospitalized under investigation (PUI) for COVID-19. The researchers randomly selected up to 8 cases per site per month for evaluation, with each case evaluated by two clinicians to determine whether a DE occurred, and whether any diagnostic process faults took place. The study found that wo hundred and fifty-seven patient charts were evaluated, of which 14% contained a DE. Patients with and without DE were statistically similar in socioeconomic factors, comorbidities, risk factors for COVID-19, and COVID-19 test turnaround time and eventual positivity. The most common diagnostic process issues contributing to DE were problems with clinical assessment, testing choices, history taking, and physical examination. Diagnostic process issues related with COVID-19 policies and procedures were not related with DE risk. 35.9% of patients with errors and 5.4% of patients overall suffered harm or death due to diagnostic error.
AHRQ-funded; HS027369.
Citation: Auerbach AD, Astik GJ, O'Leary KJ .
Prevalence and causes of diagnostic errors in hospitalized patients under investigation for COVID-19.
J Gen Intern Med 2023 Jun; 38(8):1902-10. doi: 10.1007/s11606-023-08176-6..
Keywords: COVID-19, Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Hospitals, Inpatient Care, Quality of Care
Ye S, Li D, Yu T
The impact of surgical volume on hospital ranking using the standardized infection ratio.
Researchers investigated the effect of surgical volume on the accuracy of identifying poorly performing hospitals. Their research was based on the standardized infection ratio, and they applied their proposed method to data from HCA Healthcare from 2014-2016 on surgical site infections in colon surgery patients. They concluded that minimum surgical volumes and predicted events criteria are required to make hospital evaluation reliable, and that these criteria may vary by overall prevalence and between-hospital variability.
AHRQ-funded; HS027791.
Citation: Ye S, Li D, Yu T .
The impact of surgical volume on hospital ranking using the standardized infection ratio.
Sci Rep 2023 May 10; 13(1):7624. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-33937-y..
Keywords: Hospitals, Surgery, Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), Provider Performance, Quality of Care
Kannan S, Song Z
Changes in out-of-pocket costs for US hospital admissions between December and January every year.
Out-of-pocket costs for ICU care may be large at the beginning of the year due to high insurance deductibles that reset every year for US patients, and the expensive nature of ICU care. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore cost-sharing changes from December to January for ICU admissions and non -ICU admissions among adults with employer-sponsored insurance. Among aggregate ICU hospitalizations, total cost-sharing averaged $1079 in December and $1871 in January, a 73.4% increase. Among non-ICU hospitalizations, total cost-sharing averaged $1043 in December and $1683 in January, a 61.3% increase. These increases and differences between ICU and non-ICU hospitalizations were greater among patients with high deductible health plans (HDHPs). For patients with HDHPs requiring an ICU stay, cost-sharing averaged $3093 per hospitalization in January vs $1301 in December.
AHRQ-funded; HS024072.
Citation: Kannan S, Song Z .
Changes in out-of-pocket costs for US hospital admissions between December and January every year.
JAMA Health Forum 2023 May 5; 4(5):e230784. doi: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2023.0784..
Keywords: Healthcare Costs, Hospitals, Hospitalization, Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
Simpson KR, Spetz J, Gay CL
Hospital characteristics associated with nurse staffing during labor and birth: Inequities for the most vulnerable maternity patients.
The objective of this study was to estimate the relationship between hospital characteristics and adherence with Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses nurse staffing guidelines. Registered nurses were enrolled in a cross-sectional survey; hospital characteristics were obtained from the 2018 American Hospital Association Annual Survey. The findings indicated that, overall, nurses reported strong adherence to staffing guidelines within their hospitals. Higher birth volume, teaching status, higher percentage of Medicaid-paid births, and presence of a neonatal intensive care unit were all associated with lower mean adherence scores.
AHRQ-funded; HS025715.
Citation: Simpson KR, Spetz J, Gay CL .
Hospital characteristics associated with nurse staffing during labor and birth: Inequities for the most vulnerable maternity patients.
Nurs Outlook 2023 May; 71(3):101960. doi: 10.1016/j.outlook.2023.101960..
Keywords: Hospitals, Maternal Care, Provider: Nurse, Workforce, Vulnerable Populations
Valley TS, Schutz A, Miller J
Hospital factors that influence ICU admission decision-making: a qualitative study of eight hospitals.
In order to understand factors influencing how intensive care unit (ICU) admission decisions are made, researchers conducted qualitative analysis of eight U.S. hospitals. Semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with 87 participants were supplemented by site visits and clinical observations. Four hospital-level factors were identified which influenced ICU admission decisionmaking. The researchers concluded that healthcare systems should evaluate use of ICU care and establish institutional patterns to ensure that ICU admission decisions are patient-centered as well as account for resources and hospital-specific constraints.
AHRQ-funded; HS028038.
Citation: Valley TS, Schutz A, Miller J .
Hospital factors that influence ICU admission decision-making: a qualitative study of eight hospitals.
Intensive Care Med 2023 May; 49(5):505-16. doi: 10.1007/s00134-023-07031-w..
Keywords: Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Hospitals, Decision Making, Hospitalization
Desai AD, Tolpadi A, Parast L
Improving the quality of written discharge instructions: a multisite collaborative project.
This study assessed the association between participation in an Institute for Healthcare Improvement Virtual Breakthrough Series collaborative and the quality of pediatric written discharge instructions across 8 US hospitals. The authors conducted a multicenter, interrupted time-series analysis of a medical records-based quality measure focused on written discharge instruction content (0-100 scale, higher scores reflect better quality). They obtained data from a random sample of pediatric patients (n = 5739) discharged from participating hospitals between September 2015 and August 2016, and between December 2017 and January 2020. The study periods consisted of 3 phases: 1) a 14-month pre-collaborative phase; 2) a 12-month quality improvement collaborative phase when hospitals implemented multiple rapid cycle tests of change and shared improvement strategies; and 3) a 12-month postcollaborative phase. Among hospitals with high baseline performance, measure scores improved beyond expected for the precollaborative trend, but hospitals with low baseline performance, measure scores increased at a lower than expected rate.
AHRQ-funded; HS025291.
Citation: Desai AD, Tolpadi A, Parast L .
Improving the quality of written discharge instructions: a multisite collaborative project.
Pediatrics 2023 May; 151(5):e2022059452. doi: 10.1542/peds.2022-059452..
Keywords: Hospital Discharge, Transitions of Care, Hospitals
Burden M, Keniston A, Gundareddy VP
Discharge in the A.M.: a randomized controlled trial of physician rounding styles to improve hospital throughput and length of stay.
In an effort to alleviate hospital capacity constraints, medical facilities frequently promote the prioritization of early morning discharges, which could potentially lead to unintended repercussions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of hospitalist physicians focusing on discharging patients before attending to other tasks in comparison to their customary rounding practices. This prospective, multi-center randomized controlled trial involved three major academic hospitals. Participants included Hospital Medicine attending-level physicians and the patients under their care during the study, who were at least 18 years old, admitted to a Medicine service, and assigned to a hospitalist team through routine procedures. Physicians were randomized into two groups: 1) giving precedence to discharging patients as care permitted or 2) maintaining their usual practice. The primary outcome measure was the time of discharge order. Secondary outcomes encompassed actual discharge time, length of stay (LOS), and order timings for procedures, consultations, and imaging. The study found that between February 9, 2021, and July 31, 2021, 59 physicians were randomized to prioritize patient discharges or maintain their usual rounding practice, resulting in the discharge of 4,437 patients. In the primary adjusted analysis (intention-to-treat), there was no significant difference in discharge order time or actual discharge time between physicians who prioritized discharging patients first and those who followed their usual rounding style. Additionally, LOS and order times for other physician orders remained unchanged.
AHRQ-funded; HS027231
Citation: Burden M, Keniston A, Gundareddy VP .
Discharge in the A.M.: a randomized controlled trial of physician rounding styles to improve hospital throughput and length of stay.
J Hosp Med 2023 Apr;18(4):302-15. doi: 10.1002/jhm.13060.
Keywords: Hospital Discharge, Hospitals