National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
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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 174 Research Studies DisplayedWiehe SE, Rosenman MB, Chartash D
A solutions-based approach to building data-sharing partnerships.
This paper aims to enhance the van Panhuis et al. framework of barriers to data sharing; the authors present a complementary solutions-based data-sharing process in order to encourage both emerging and established researchers, whether or not in academia, to engage in data-sharing partnerships.
AHRQ-funded; HS023318; HS024296.
Citation: Wiehe SE, Rosenman MB, Chartash D .
A solutions-based approach to building data-sharing partnerships.
eGEMS 2018 Aug 22;6(1):20. doi: 10.5334/egems.236..
Keywords: Data, Health Services Research (HSR), Research Methodologies
Chai H, Jiang H, Lin L
A marginalized two-part Beta regression model for microbiome compositional data.
The authors of the study propose a marginalized two-part Beta regression model which captures the zero-inflation and skewness of microbiome data and also allows investigators to examine covariate effects on the marginal (unconditional) mean. They demonstrated its practical performance using simulation studies and applying the model to a real metagenomic dataset on mouse skin microbiota.
AHRQ-funded; HS020263.
Citation: Chai H, Jiang H, Lin L .
A marginalized two-part Beta regression model for microbiome compositional data.
PLoS Comput Biol 2018 Jul 23;14(7):e1006329. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006329..
Keywords: Data, Research Methodologies
Durojaiye AB, McGeorge NM, Puett LL
Mapping the flow of pediatric trauma patients using process mining.
The purpose of this study was to describe a process mining approach for mapping the inhospital flow of pediatric trauma patients, to identify and characterize the major patient pathways and care transitions, and to identify opportunities for patient flow and triage improvement. Process mining was successfully applied to derive process maps from trauma registry data and to identify opportunities for trauma triage improvement and optimization of PICU use.
AHRQ-funded; HS023837.
Citation: Durojaiye AB, McGeorge NM, Puett LL .
Mapping the flow of pediatric trauma patients using process mining.
Appl Clin Inform 2018 Jul;9(3):654-66. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1668089..
Keywords: Trauma, Children/Adolescents, Transitions of Care, Data
Ghaferi AA, Dimick JB
Practical guide to surgical data sets: Medicare claims data.
In this article, the authors discuss pros and cons of Medicare data and explore commonly studied categories using this data (health policy evaluation, comparative effectiveness research, and outcome variations). They conclude that it is important to frame questions carefully and to use appropriate methods to ensure scientific rigor.
AHRQ-funded; HS023621; HS024403.
Citation: Ghaferi AA, Dimick JB .
Practical guide to surgical data sets: Medicare claims data.
JAMA Surg 2018 Jul;153(7):677-78. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2018.0489..
Keywords: Medicare, Data, Surgery, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Research Methodologies
Polubriaginof FCG, Vanguri R, Quinnies K
Disease heritability inferred from familial relationships reported in medical records.
Electronic health records (EHRs) passively capture a wide range of clinically relevant data and provide a resource for studying the heritability of traits that are not typically accessible. This study used EHR data to compute heritability estimates for 500 disease phenotypes. These analyses provided a validation of the use of EHRs for genetics and disease research.
AHRQ-funded; HS021816; HS022961.
Citation: Polubriaginof FCG, Vanguri R, Quinnies K .
Disease heritability inferred from familial relationships reported in medical records.
Cell 2018 Jun 14;173(7):1692-704.e11. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.04.032..
Keywords: Data, Family Health and History, Genetics, Health Information Technology (HIT), Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
Goss FR, Lai KH, Topaz M
A value set for documenting adverse reactions in electronic health records.
In this study, the investigators developed a value set for encoding adverse reactions using a large dataset from one health system, enriched by reactions from 2 large external resources. This integrated value set included clinically important severe and hypersensitivity reactions. The work contributed a value set, harmonized with existing data, to improve the consistency and accuracy of reaction documentation in electronic health records, providing the necessary building blocks for more intelligent clinical decision support for allergies and adverse reactions.
AHRQ-funded; HS022728.
Citation: Goss FR, Lai KH, Topaz M .
A value set for documenting adverse reactions in electronic health records.
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2018 Jun;25(6):661-69. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocx139..
Keywords: Adverse Drug Events (ADE), Adverse Events, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Medication, Data, Health Information Technology (HIT), Patient Safety
Lu B, Cai D, Tong X
Testing causal effects in observational survival data using propensity score matching design.
The researchers proposed a strategy to test for survival function differences based on the matching design and explored sensitivity of the P-values to assumptions about unmeasured confounding. Next, they applied their method to an observational cohort of chronic liver disease patients from a Mayo Clinic study. Results showed evidence of a significant treatment effect. They recommended caution, however, as the sensitivity analysis reveals that the P-value becomes non-significant if there exists an unmeasured confounder with a small impact.
AHRQ-funded; HS024263.
Citation: Lu B, Cai D, Tong X .
Testing causal effects in observational survival data using propensity score matching design.
Stat Med 2018 May 20;37(11):1846-58. doi: 10.1002/sim.7599.
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Keywords: Data, Health Services Research (HSR), Research Methodologies
Hultman G, McEwan R, Pakhomov S
Usability evaluation of an unstructured clinical document query tool for researchers.
This study aimed to conduct a user-centered analysis with clinical researchers to gain insight into Natural Language Processing - Patient Information Extraction for Researchers (NLP-PIER) usability and to gain an understanding of the needs of clinical researchers when using an application for searching clinical notes.
AHRQ-funded; HS022085.
Citation: Hultman G, McEwan R, Pakhomov S .
Usability evaluation of an unstructured clinical document query tool for researchers.
AMIA Jt Summits Transl Sci Proc 2018 May 18;2018:84-93..
Keywords: Data, Health Information Technology (HIT), Research Methodologies
Liang Q, Ward S, Pagani FD
Linkage of Medicare records to the interagency registry of mechanically assisted circulatory support.
This study merged Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) records with CMS Medicare claims regarding adults receiving durable FDA-approved mechanical circulatory support devices (MCSDs) in order to investigate the uncertainty of penetrance of Medicare beneficiaries within INTERMACS. The results indicated that there was an annual increase in CMS and INTERMACS centers performing durable MCSD implants among adults from 2008 to 2013, but the CMS centers outnumbered the INTERMAC centers throughout this period. Representation within INTERMACS of MCSDs implanted in Medicare beneficiaries more than doubled in 2013. The authors conclude that ‘the vast majority’ of Medicare beneficiaries receiving MCSDs are increasingly captured in INTERMACS, and that contemporary studies in INTERMACS are therefore relevant and generalizable to the Medicare population.
AHRQ-funded; HS022535.
Citation: Liang Q, Ward S, Pagani FD .
Linkage of Medicare records to the interagency registry of mechanically assisted circulatory support.
Ann Thorac Surg 2018 May;105(5):1397-402. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2017.11.044..
Keywords: Cardiovascular Conditions, Heart Disease and Health, Data, Medicare, Registries
Liang Q, Ward S, Pagani FD
Linkage of Medicare records to the interagency registry of mechanically assisted circulatory support.
This study merged Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) records with CMS Medicare claims regarding adults receiving durable FDA-approved mechanical circulatory support devices (MCSDs) in order to investigate the uncertainty of penetrance of Medicare beneficiaries within INTERMACS. The results indicated that there was an annual increase in CMS and INTERMACS centers performing durable MCSD implants among adults from 2008 to 2013, but the CMS centers outnumbered the INTERMAC centers throughout this period. Representation within INTERMACS of MCSDs implanted in Medicare beneficiaries more than doubled in 2013. The authors conclude that ‘the vast majority’ of Medicare beneficiaries receiving MCSDs are increasingly captured in INTERMACS, and that contemporary studies in INTERMACS are therefore relevant and generalizable to the Medicare population.
AHRQ-funded; HS022535.
Citation: Liang Q, Ward S, Pagani FD .
Linkage of Medicare records to the interagency registry of mechanically assisted circulatory support.
Ann Thorac Surg 2018 May;105(5):1397-402. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2017.11.044..
Keywords: Cardiovascular Conditions, Heart Disease and Health, Data, Medicare, Registries
Sockolow PS, Yang Y, Bass EJ
Data visualization of home care admission nurses' decision-making.
This study investigated nurses’ decision making regarding hospital to home care admissions. They conducted a focus group case study with six admitting home health nurses at a rural agency in Pennsylvania and analyzed the data using thematic analysis.
AHRQ-funded; HS024537.
Citation: Sockolow PS, Yang Y, Bass EJ .
Data visualization of home care admission nurses' decision-making.
AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2018 Apr 16;2017:1597-606..
Keywords: Data, Shared Decision Making, Home Healthcare, Nursing, Transitions of Care
Nguyen A, Lau BD
Collecting sexual orientation and gender identity information: Filling the gaps in sexual and gender minority health.
A lack of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data collection limits understanding of the true size of and health outcomes among these populations. In this invited commentary, the authors discuss collection of these data.
AHRQ-funded; HS024547.
Citation: Nguyen A, Lau BD .
Collecting sexual orientation and gender identity information: Filling the gaps in sexual and gender minority health.
Med Care 2018 Mar;56(3):205-07. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000000856..
Keywords: Data, Disparities, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Sexual Health
Eisler L, Huang G, Lee KM
Identification of perioperative pulmonary aspiration in children using quality assurance and hospital administrative billing data.
This study aims to identify the incidence of and risk factors for perioperative aspiration in children using quality assurance data supplemented by administrative billing records, and to examine the utility of billing data as a supplementary data source. The investigators found that International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes for aspiration used as a secondary data source were nonspecific for perioperative aspiration, but when combined with record review yielded a 30% increase in identified cases of aspiration over quality assurance data alone.
AHRQ-funded; HS022941.
Citation: Eisler L, Huang G, Lee KM .
Identification of perioperative pulmonary aspiration in children using quality assurance and hospital administrative billing data.
Paediatr Anaesth 2018 Mar;28(3):218-25. doi: 10.1111/pan.13319..
Keywords: Adverse Events, Children/Adolescents, Data, Pneumonia, Respiratory Conditions
Sun B, Perkins NJ, Cole SR
AHRQ Author: Mitchell EM
Inverse-probability-weighted estimation for monotone and nonmonotone missing data.
The goal of this study was to examine the issue of missing data in epidemiologic research by estimating the association of maternal smoking behavior with spontaneous abortion. Three data sets with induced missing values from the Collaborative Perinatal Project are provided in the article as examples of prototypical epidemiologic studies with missing data. The article also describes a proposed approach to modeling nonmonotone missing-data mechanisms under missingness at random that can be used in constructing the weights in inverse probability weighting complete-case estimation.
AHRQ-authored.
Citation: Sun B, Perkins NJ, Cole SR .
Inverse-probability-weighted estimation for monotone and nonmonotone missing data.
Am J Epidemiol 2018 Mar;187(3):585-91. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwx350..
Keywords: Data, Health Services Research (HSR), Pregnancy, Research Methodologies
Stocco FG, Evaristo E, Shah NR
Marked exercise-induced T-wave heterogeneity in symptomatic diabetic patients with nonflow-limiting coronary artery stenosis.
The authors investigated whether T-wave heterogeneity (TWH) is elevated during exercise tolerance testing (ETT) in symptomatic diabetic patients with nonflow-limiting coronary artery stenosis compared to control subjects without diabetes. They found that TWH is capable of detecting latent repolarization abnormalities, which are present during ETT in diabetic patients with nonflow-limiting stenosis but not in control subjects. They concluded that the technique developed in this study permits TWH analysis from archived ECGs and thereby enables mining of extensive databases for retrospective studies and hypothesis testing.
AHRQ-funded; HS022998.
Citation: Stocco FG, Evaristo E, Shah NR .
Marked exercise-induced T-wave heterogeneity in symptomatic diabetic patients with nonflow-limiting coronary artery stenosis.
Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol 2018 Mar;23(2):e12503. doi: 10.1111/anec.12503.
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Keywords: Cardiovascular Conditions, Data, Diabetes, Research Methodologies
Thomas KS, Dosa D, Gozalo PL
A methodology to identify a cohort of Medicare beneficiaries residing in large assisted living facilities using administrative data.
The purpose of this study was to develop and test a methodology to identify Medicare beneficiaries residing in assisted living facilities (ALFs). To this end, the investigators compiled a finder file of 9-digit ZIP codes representing large ALFs (25+ beds) by matching Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) assessments and Medicare Part B Claims to the Medicare enrollment records and addresses of 11,751 ALFs.
AHRQ-funded; HS000011.
Citation: Thomas KS, Dosa D, Gozalo PL .
A methodology to identify a cohort of Medicare beneficiaries residing in large assisted living facilities using administrative data.
Med Care 2018 Feb;56(2):e10-e15. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000000659..
Keywords: Data, Medicare, Research Methodologies
Arcia A, Woollen J, Bakken S
A systematic method for exploring data attributes in preparation for designing tailored infographics of patient reported outcomes.
Tailored visualizations of patient reported outcomes (PROs) are valuable health communication tools to support shared decision making, health self-management, and engagement with research participants, such as cohorts in the NIH Precision Medicine Initiative. The authors of the study present a systematic method to exploring data attributes, with a specific focus on application to self-reported health data. They present two case studies to illustrate how this method affected design decisions particularly with respect to outlier and non-missing zero values.
AHRQ-funded; HS019853; HS022961.
Citation: Arcia A, Woollen J, Bakken S .
A systematic method for exploring data attributes in preparation for designing tailored infographics of patient reported outcomes.
eGEMS 2018 Jan 24;6(1):2. doi: 10.5334/egems.190..
Keywords: Communication, Shared Decision Making, Patient-Centered Healthcare, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Outcomes, Data
Woloshin S, Schwartz LM, Bagley PJ
Characteristics of interim publications of randomized clinical trials and comparison with final publications.
The authors describe the characteristics of interim publications from ongoing randomized trials and compare their consistency and prominence with those of final publications. They conclude that interim publication should be limited to protocol prespecified analyses performed when enough outcomes occurred for statistical stability and to scenarios least likely to undermine trial integrity.
AHRQ-funded; HS024075.
Citation: Woloshin S, Schwartz LM, Bagley PJ .
Characteristics of interim publications of randomized clinical trials and comparison with final publications.
JAMA 2018 Jan 23;319(4):404-06. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.20653.
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Keywords: Data, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Research Methodologies
Keenan GM, Lopez KD, Sousa VEC
A shovel-ready solution to fill the nursing data gap in the interdisciplinary clinical picture.
The purpose of this study was to critically evaluate the 2014 American Academy of Nursing (AAN) call-to-action plan for generating interoperable nursing data. The authors of the article present recommendations for revisions to AAN's plan as well as an evidence-based alternative to generating interoperable nursing data in the near term.
AHRQ-funded; HS015054.
Citation: Keenan GM, Lopez KD, Sousa VEC .
A shovel-ready solution to fill the nursing data gap in the interdisciplinary clinical picture.
Int J Nurs Knowl 2018 Jan;29(1):49-58. doi: 10.1111/2047-3095.12168..
Keywords: Data, Evidence-Based Practice, Nursing
Arthur KC, Lucenko BA, Sharkova IV
Using state administrative data to identify social complexity risk factors for children.
Researchers aimed to test the feasibility of using an integrated state agency administrative database to identify social complexity risk factors and examine their relationship to emergency department (ED) use. They concluded that State administrative data can be used to identify social complexity risk factors associated with higher rates of ED use among Medicaid-insured children.
AHRQ-funded; HS020506.
Citation: Arthur KC, Lucenko BA, Sharkova IV .
Using state administrative data to identify social complexity risk factors for children.
Ann Fam Med 2018 Jan;16(1):62-69. doi: 10.1370/afm.2134.
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Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Data, Emergency Department, Healthcare Utilization, Risk
Cohen GR, Jones DJ, Heeringa J
AHRQ Author: Furukawa MF, Miller D
Leveraging diverse data sources to identify and describe U.S. health care delivery systems.
Health care delivery systems are a growing presence in the U.S., yet research is hindered by the lack of universally agreed-upon criteria to denote formal systems. This study assesses available data sources to identify and describe systems, including system members and relationships among the members.
AHRQ-authored.
Citation: Cohen GR, Jones DJ, Heeringa J .
Leveraging diverse data sources to identify and describe U.S. health care delivery systems.
eGEMS 2017 Dec 15;5(3):9. doi: 10.5334/egems.200..
Keywords: Healthcare Delivery, Data, Health Services Research (HSR), System Design
Liang C, Gong Y
Automated classification of multi-labeled patient safety reports: a shift from quantity to quality measure.
The capacity for extracting useful information from patient safety reports remains limited. This study investigated the multi-labeled nature of patient safety reports as a key to disclose the complex relations between many components during the courses and development of medical errors. The authors developed automated multi-label text classifiers to process patient safety reports. The experiments demonstrated feasibility and efficiency of a combination of multi-label algorithms in the benchmark comparison.
AHRQ-funded; HS022895.
Citation: Liang C, Gong Y .
Automated classification of multi-labeled patient safety reports: a shift from quantity to quality measure.
Stud Health Technol Inform 2017;245:1070-74..
Keywords: Adverse Events, Data, Patient Safety, Quality Measures
Liang C, Gong Y
Predicting harm scores from patient safety event reports.
The Harm Scale developed by the AHRQ is widely used in the US hospitals. However, recent studies have indicated a moderate to poor inter-rater reliability of the scale across a number of US hospitals. This study proposed that key information to identify and refine the severity of harm is contained in the narrative data in patient safety reports. The researchers found that using automated text classification to categorize harm score provided reduced subjective judgments and improved efficiency.
AHRQ-funded; HS022895.
Citation: Liang C, Gong Y .
Predicting harm scores from patient safety event reports.
Stud Health Technol Inform 2017;245:1075-79..
Keywords: Adverse Events, Data, Hospitals, Patient Safety
Cohen KB, Goss FR, Zweigenbaum P
Translational morphosyntax: distribution of negation in clinical records and biomedical journal articles.
This paper describes the distribution of negation in two types of biomedical texts: scientific journal articles and progress notes. Two types of negation are examined: explicit negation at the syntactic level and affixal negation at the sub-word level. The data show that the distribution of negation is significantly different in the two document types.
AHRQ-funded; HS024541.
Citation: Cohen KB, Goss FR, Zweigenbaum P .
Translational morphosyntax: distribution of negation in clinical records and biomedical journal articles.
Stud Health Technol Inform 2017;245:346-50.
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Keywords: Data, Health Information Technology (HIT), Research Methodologies
Ji X, Machiraju R, Ritter A
Visualizing article similarities via sparsified article network and map projection for systematic reviews.
In this study, the authors visualized article similarities to extend its utilization in practical settings for SR researchers, aiming to promote human comprehension of article distributions and hidden patterns. To prompt an effective visualization in an interpretable, intuitive, and scalable way, they implemented a graph-based network visualization with three network sparsification approaches and a distance-based map projection via dimensionality reduction.
AHRQ-funded; HS025047.
Citation: Ji X, Machiraju R, Ritter A .
Visualizing article similarities via sparsified article network and map projection for systematic reviews.
Stud Health Technol Inform 2017;245:422-26.
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Keywords: Data, Evidence-Based Practice, Health Services Research (HSR), Research Methodologies