National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
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AHRQ Research Studies Date
Topics
- Cardiovascular Conditions (1)
- Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) (1)
- Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI) (1)
- Children/Adolescents (1)
- Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) (2)
- Diabetes (1)
- Elderly (1)
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs) (3)
- Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) (1)
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) (1)
- Health Information Technology (HIT) (5)
- Health Status (1)
- Heart Disease and Health (1)
- Home Healthcare (1)
- Hospitalization (1)
- Hospital Readmissions (3)
- Hospitals (6)
- Long-Term Care (2)
- Medicaid (1)
- Medicare (7)
- Nursing Homes (4)
- Patient Experience (1)
- Patient Safety (2)
- Payment (4)
- Provider (2)
- (-) Provider Performance (22)
- Quality Improvement (8)
- Quality Indicators (QIs) (5)
- Quality Measures (10)
- (-) Quality of Care (22)
- Registries (1)
- Respiratory Conditions (1)
- Stroke (1)
- Surgery (3)
- Telehealth (1)
- Transplantation (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 22 of 22 Research Studies DisplayedCollins CR, Abel MK, Shui A
Preparing for participation in the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' bundle care payment initiative-advanced for major bowel surgery.
This study aimed to assess where the largest opportunities for care improvement lay with the bundled payment reimbursement model and how best to identify patients at high risk of suffering costly complications, including hospital readmission. The authors used a cohort of patients from 2014 and 2016 who met inclusion criteria for the Major Bowel Bundled Payment Program and performed a cost analysis to identify opportunities for improved care efficiency. Using the results, they identified readmissions as a target for improvement and then assessed whether the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program surgical risk calculator (ACS NSQIP SRC) could accurately identify patients within the bundled payment population who were at high risk of readmission using a logistic regression model. Patients who were readmitted within 90-days post-surgery were 2.53 times more likely to be high-cost (>$60,000) then non-readmitted patients. However, the ACS NSQIP SRC did not accurately predict patients at high risk of readmission within the first 30 days post-surgery.
AHRQ-funded; HS024532.
Citation: Collins CR, Abel MK, Shui A .
Preparing for participation in the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' bundle care payment initiative-advanced for major bowel surgery.
Perioper Med 2022 Dec 9;11(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s13741-022-00286-9..
Keywords: Provider Performance, Payment, Hospital Readmissions, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Surgery, Medicare, Medicaid
Liao JM, Huang Q, Wang E
Performance of physician groups and hospitals participating in bundled payments among Medicare beneficiaries.
This cohort study compared how physician group practices (PGPs) performed in bundled payments compared with hospitals. The authors used 2011 to 2018 Medicare claims data to compare the association of participants in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BCPI) initiative with episode outcomes. Primary outcome was 90-day total episode spending. The total sampled comprised data from 1,288,781 Medicare beneficiaries, of whom mean age was 76.2 years, 59.7% women, and 85.5% White, with 592,071 individuals receiving care from 6405 physicians in in BPCI-participating PGPs and 24,758 propensity-matched physicians in non-BPCI-participating PGPs. For PGPs, BPCI participation was associated with greater reductions in episode spending for surgical (difference, -$1648 to -$1088) but not for medical episodes (difference, -$410 to $206). Hospital participation in BPCI was associated with greater reductions in episode spending for both surgical ($1345 to -$675) and medical -$1139 to -$386) episodes.
AHRQ-funded; HS027595.
Citation: Liao JM, Huang Q, Wang E .
Performance of physician groups and hospitals participating in bundled payments among Medicare beneficiaries.
JAMA Health Forum 2022 Dec 2; 3(12):e224889. doi: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2022.4889..
Keywords: Provider Performance, Payment, Hospitals, Medicare, Quality of Care
Waters TM, Burns N, Kaplan CM
Combined impact of medicare's hospital pay for performance programs on quality and safety outcomes is mixed.
The authors examined the combined impact of Medicare's pay for performance (P4P) programs on clinical areas and populations targeted by the programs, as well as those outside their focus. Using HCUP data, and consistent with previous studies for individual programs, they detected minimal, if any, effect of Medicare's hospital P4P programs on quality and safety. They recommended a redesigning of the P4P programs before continuing to expand them.
AHRQ-funded; HS025148.
Citation: Waters TM, Burns N, Kaplan CM .
Combined impact of medicare's hospital pay for performance programs on quality and safety outcomes is mixed.
BMC Health Serv Res 2022 Jul 28;22(1):958. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08348-w..
Keywords: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Medicare, Payment, Provider Performance, Hospitals, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Patient Safety
Patel S, Pierce L, Jones M
Using participatory design to engage physicians in the development of a provider-level performance dashboard and feedback system.
This study examined the use of participatory design to engage physicians in the development of a provider-level performance dashboard and feedback system. The study took place at the University of California, San Francisco with 20 hospitalist physicians who participated in a series of six design sessions and two surveys. Key components of the feedback system were systematically addressed in each design session and survey, including design, metric selection, data delivery, and incentives. The authors used the Capability Opportunity Motivation and Behavior (COM-B) model to identify behavior change interventions to facilitate engagement with the dashboard during a pilot implementation. They found that physicians preferred collaboration over competition and internal motivation over external incentives and that the dashboard be used as a tool to aid in clinical practice improvement and not punitively by leadership. The physicians also felt that metrics that were clinical or patient-centered were perceived as more meaningful and more likely to motivate behavior change. Next steps after this study will be targeted feedback interventions to attempt to improve performance.
AHRQ-funded; HS026383.
Citation: Patel S, Pierce L, Jones M .
Using participatory design to engage physicians in the development of a provider-level performance dashboard and feedback system.
Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf 2022 Mar; 48(3):165-72. doi: 10.1016/j.jcjq.2021.10.003..
Keywords: Provider Performance, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
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
Schwartz ML, Rahman M, Thomas KS
Consumer selection and home health agency quality and patient experience stars.
The objective of this study was to compare the impact of the introduction of two distinct sets of star ratings, quality of care, and patient experience, on home health agency (HHA) selection. The investigators concluded that the introduction of quality of care and patient experience stars were associated with changes in HHA selection; however, the strength of these relationships was weaker than observed in other health care settings where a single star rating was reported.
AHRQ-funded; HS026440.
Citation: Schwartz ML, Rahman M, Thomas KS .
Consumer selection and home health agency quality and patient experience stars.
Health Serv Res 2022 Feb;57(1):113-24. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.13867..
Keywords: Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Home Healthcare, Patient Experience, Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Provider Performance, Quality Indicators (QIs)
Dowding D, Merrill J, Russell D
Using feedback intervention theory to guide clinical dashboard design.
The provision of feedback to clinicians and organizations on the quality of care they provide is thought to influence clinician and organizational behavior leading to care improvements. Clinical Dashboards use data visualization techniques to provide feedback to individuals on their performance compared to quality metrics. In this paper the authors outline a theoretical approach to the design of a clinical dashboard; Feedback Intervention Theory (FIT).
AHRQ-funded; HS023855.
Citation: Dowding D, Merrill J, Russell D .
Using feedback intervention theory to guide clinical dashboard design.
AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2018 Dec 5;2018:395-403..
Keywords: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Provider Performance, Quality of Care, Quality Improvement
Meddings J, Smith SN, Hofer TP
Mixed messages to consumers from Medicare: Hospital Compare grades versus value-based payment penalty.
This study examined the discrepancy of ratings with hospitals with low readmission grades for heart failure (HF) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) on the Hospital Compare website, yet received penalties for excessive readmissions under the hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. A retrospective data analysis was conducted of 2956 hospitals that had publicly reported HF grades on Hospital Compare. Of those, 92% were graded as “no different” than the national rate for HD readmissions, yet included 48.6% that were scored as having excessive HF admissions and 87% received an overall readmission penalty. Of the 120 hospitals graded as “better”, none were scored as having excessive HF readmissions and 50% were penalized. There were similar results for AMI.
AHRQ-funded; HS018334; HS019767.
Citation: Meddings J, Smith SN, Hofer TP .
Mixed messages to consumers from Medicare: Hospital Compare grades versus value-based payment penalty.
Am J Manag Care 2018 Dec;24(12):e399-e403..
Keywords: Medicare, Hospital Readmissions, Heart Disease and Health, Hospitals, Quality of Care, Cardiovascular Conditions, Provider Performance, Payment
Rolnick JA, Ryskina KL
The use of individual provider performance reports by US Hospitals.
In this study, the investigators examined overall trends in how hospitals use the electronic health record to track and provide feedback on provider performance. They used data from 2013 to 2015 from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement, which asked hospitals if they have used electronic data to create performance profiles. They linked these data to AHA Annual Survey responses for all general adult and pediatric hospitals and used Multivariable logistic regression to model the odds of use as a function of hospital characteristics.
AHRQ-funded; HS022198.
Citation: Rolnick JA, Ryskina KL .
The use of individual provider performance reports by US Hospitals.
J Hosp Med 2018 Aug;13(8):562-65. doi: 10.12788/jhm.2922..
Keywords: Provider Performance, Quality of Care, Provider, Hospitals, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT)
Kaiser SV, Lam R, Joseph GB
Limitations of using pediatric respiratory illness readmissions to compare hospital performance.
Researcher sought to determine if a National Quality Forum (NQF)-endorsed measure for pediatric lower respiratory illness (LRI) 30-day readmission rates can meaningfully identify high- and low-performing hospitals. Subjects were children with LRI (bronchiolitis, influenza, or pneumonia as primary diagnosis, or with an LRI as a secondary diagnosis with a primary diagnosis of respiratory failure, sepsis, bacteremia, or asthma) from all hospital admissions in California from 2012 to 2014. The researchers were unable to identify meaningful variation in hospital performance without broadening the metric definition and merging multiple years of data. They recommend that utilizers of pediatric-quality measures consider modifying metrics to better evaluate the quality of pediatric care at low-volume hospitals.
AHRQ-funded; HS024385; HS022835; HS024592; HS025297.
Citation: Kaiser SV, Lam R, Joseph GB .
Limitations of using pediatric respiratory illness readmissions to compare hospital performance.
J Hosp Med 2018 Nov;13(11):737-42. doi: 10.12788/jhm.2988..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Respiratory Conditions, Provider Performance, Hospital Readmissions, Hospitals, Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Quality of Care, Quality Improvement
Brauner D, Werner RM, Shippee TP
Does Nursing Home Compare reflect patient safety in nursing homes?
In this study the investigators compared nursing homes' performance on several composite quality measures from Nursing Home Compare, the most prominent recent example of a national policy aimed at improving the quality of nursing home care, to their performance on measures of patient safety in nursing homes such as pressure sores, infections, falls, and medication errors.
AHRQ-funded; HS024967.
Citation: Brauner D, Werner RM, Shippee TP .
Does Nursing Home Compare reflect patient safety in nursing homes?
Health Aff 2018 Nov;37(11):1770-78. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2018.0721.
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Keywords: Quality of Care, Nursing Homes, Patient Safety, Provider Performance, Quality Measures
Fraze TK, Lewis VA, Tierney E
Quality of care improves for patients with diabetes in Medicare shared savings accountable care organizations: organizational characteristics associated with performance.
This study analyzed secondary data retrospectively to examine Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Accountable Care Organizations’ performance on diabetes metrics in the first 2 years of ACO contracts in order to determine how ACO organizational characteristics - such as composition, staffing, care management, and experiences with health reform - were associated with quality of care delivered to patients with diabetes.
AHRQ-funded; HS024075.
Citation: Fraze TK, Lewis VA, Tierney E .
Quality of care improves for patients with diabetes in Medicare shared savings accountable care organizations: organizational characteristics associated with performance.
Popul Health Manag 2018 Oct;21(5):401-08. doi: 10.1089/pop.2017.0102..
Keywords: Diabetes, Quality of Care, Medicare, Provider Performance, Quality Improvement
Quinn CM, Bilimoria KY, Chung JW
Creating individual surgeon performance assessments in a statewide hospital surgical quality improvement collaborative.
In this study, the investigators sought to create surgeon-level comparative assessments within the Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative. The investigators found that few individual surgeon performance outliers could be detected in NSQIP clinical registry data for a statewide hospital collaborative over a 30-month period using postoperative patient outcomes. The authors suggest that low surgeon-specific case volumes and minimal variance between surgeons may limit the utility of American College of Surgeons NSQIP outcomes measures for individual profiling.
AHRQ-funded; HS024516.
Citation: Quinn CM, Bilimoria KY, Chung JW .
Creating individual surgeon performance assessments in a statewide hospital surgical quality improvement collaborative.
J Am Coll Surg 2018 Sep;227(3):303-12.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2018.06.002..
Keywords: Quality of Care, Provider Performance, Quality Improvement, Surgery
Moreno A, Schwamm LH, Siddiqui KA
Frequent hub-spoke contact is associated with improved spoke hospital performance: results from the Massachusetts General Hospital Telestroke Network.
This study investigated the association of a strong hub-spoke hospital connection with improved spoke hospital performance for acute ischemic stroke patients associated with the Massachusetts General Hospital Telestroke Network. Investigators identified 375 patients treated with tPA by conventional or telestroke methods from 2006-2015 with 16 spoke hospitals. There was a positive association between more frequent contact between a telestroke spoke and its hub and faster tPA delivery for patients.
AHRQ-funded; HS024561.
Citation: Moreno A, Schwamm LH, Siddiqui KA .
Frequent hub-spoke contact is associated with improved spoke hospital performance: results from the Massachusetts General Hospital Telestroke Network.
Telemed J E Health 2018 Sep;24(9):678-83. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2017.0252..
Keywords: Health Information Technology (HIT), Hospitals, Provider Performance, Quality of Care, Stroke, Telehealth
Hays RD, Mallett JS, Haas A
Associations of CAHPS composites with global ratings of the doctor vary by Medicare beneficiaries' health status.
This study examines whether the association of care coordination with global ratings of one's personal doctor varies by number of chronic conditions and self-rated health. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that patients in worse health weigh care coordination more heavily in global physician assessments than patients in better health. Emphasis on improving care coordination, especially for patients in poorer health, may improve patients' overall assessments of their providers.
AHRQ-funded; HS016980; HS025920.
Citation: Hays RD, Mallett JS, Haas A .
Associations of CAHPS composites with global ratings of the doctor vary by Medicare beneficiaries' health status.
Med Care 2018 Aug;56(8):736-39. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000000942..
Keywords: Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Quality of Care, Health Status, Medicare, Provider Performance
Dowding D, Merrill JA
The development of heuristics for evaluation of dashboard visualizations.
Heuristic evaluation is used in human-computer interaction studies to assess the usability of information systems. This article develops a heuristic evaluation checklist that can be used to evaluate systems that produce information visualizations. The authors suggest that a checklist of usability heuristics for evaluating information visualization systems can contribute to assuring high quality in electronic data systems developed for health care.
AHRQ-funded; HS023855.
Citation: Dowding D, Merrill JA .
The development of heuristics for evaluation of dashboard visualizations.
Appl Clin Inform 2018 Jul;9(3):511-18. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1666842..
Keywords: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Provider Performance, Quality of Care, Quality Improvement
Alexander GL, Madsen R
A national report of nursing home quality and information technology: two-year trends.
The authors sought to answer these two research questions: What are the trends in information technology (IT) adoption in US nursing home facilities over 2 years? How are 2-year trends in IT adoption in US nursing homes related to nationally reported quality measures (QMs)? Using surveys of nursing home administrators and data from Nursing Home Compare, they concluded that multiple dimensions of IT sophistication influence QMs in every health care domain, providing an opportunity to design a reporting system that joins these important variables to be assessed on a national scale.
AHRQ-funded; HS022497.
Citation: Alexander GL, Madsen R .
A national report of nursing home quality and information technology: two-year trends.
J Nurs Care Qual 2018 Jul/Sep;33(3):200-07. doi: 10.1097/ncq.0000000000000328.
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Keywords: Health Information Technology (HIT), Nursing Homes, Long-Term Care, Quality of Care, Quality Measures, Provider Performance
Wey A, Salkowski N, Kasiske BL
A five-tier system for improving the categorization of transplant program performance.
The purpose of this study was to better inform health care consumers by identifying the differences in transplant program performance. Researchers compared the differentiation of program performance and a simulated misclassification rate of the five-tier system with the previous three-tier system based on the 95 percent credible interval, using data on adult kidney transplants collected from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database. The study finds that the five-tier system improved differentiation and maintained a lower misclassification rate than programs differing by two tiers, and concludes that the five-tier system can improve the informing of health care consumers about transplant program performance.
AHRQ-funded; HS024527.
Citation: Wey A, Salkowski N, Kasiske BL .
A five-tier system for improving the categorization of transplant program performance.
Health Serv Res 2018 Jun;53(3):1979-91. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12726..
Keywords: Transplantation, Provider Performance, Quality of Care, Registries
de la Guardia FH, Hwang J, Adams JL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10742-018-0179-2
Loss function-based evaluation of physician report cards.
The authors specified loss functions and evaluated the potential cost of misclassification for physician report card designs. They found that misclassification cost depends on how performance information will be used and by whom; selecting the lowest-cost design for a given stakeholder could maximize the usefulness of physician performance data. They conlcuded that misclassification cost could guide report card design, improving the usefulness of a report card for one stakeholder without disadvantaging others.
AHRQ-funded; HS021860.
Citation: de la Guardia FH, Hwang J, Adams JL .
Loss function-based evaluation of physician report cards.
Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology 2018 Jun;18(2):96-108. doi: 10.1007/s10742-018-0179-2.
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Keywords: Quality of Care, Provider Performance, Quality Measures
Sawyer JM, Anton NE, Korndorffer JR
Time crunch: increasing the efficiency of assessment of technical surgical skill via brief video clips.
Video review for assessment of surgical performance is gaining popularity but is time consuming for busy expert reviewers, making review delays inevitable. The study authors hypothesized that a shorter duration video clip would not affect the quality of expert ratings compared with full-length review. Their hypothesis was rejected as shorter video durations for surgical performance assessment led to inflated reviewer ratings both for expert and novice reviewers. They concluded that shortening duration of the video could not be recommended for accurate performance assessment.
AHRQ-funded; HS022080.
Citation: Sawyer JM, Anton NE, Korndorffer JR .
Time crunch: increasing the efficiency of assessment of technical surgical skill via brief video clips.
Surgery 2018 Apr;163(4):933-37. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2017.11.011..
Keywords: Surgery, Quality of Care, Provider Performance, Quality Measures
Ryskina KL, Konetzka RT, Werner RM
Association between 5-Star nursing home report card ratings and potentially preventable hospitalizations.
The goal of this study was to test whether the improvements in nursing homes’ 5-star ratings were correlated with reductions in rates of hospitalization; the researchers’ hypothesis was that increased attention to ratings motivated nursing homes to make changes to improve ratings but did not affect hospitalization rate, resulting in a weakened association between ratings and hospitalizations. 2007-2010 Medicare hospital claims and nursing home clinical assessment data were used to compare the correlation between nursing homes’ ratings and hospitalization rates. Correlation weakened slightly after the ratings became publicly available. The researchers conclude that improvements in nursing home ratings after the release of Medicare's 5-star rating system were not accompanied by improvements in a broader measure of outcomes for post-acute care patients and, although this dissociation may be due to additional factors, the 5-star ratings became less meaningful as an indicator of nursing home quality for these patients.
AHRQ-funded; HS021861.
Citation: Ryskina KL, Konetzka RT, Werner RM .
Association between 5-Star nursing home report card ratings and potentially preventable hospitalizations.
Inquiry 2018 Jan-Dec;55:46958018787323. doi: 10.1177/0046958018787323..
Keywords: Elderly, Nursing Homes, Medicare, Quality Indicators (QIs), Provider Performance, Quality Measures, Hospitalization, Quality of Care
Govindan S, Wallace B, Iwashyna TJ
Do experts understand performance measures? A mixed-methods study of infection preventionists.
This study assessed expert interpretation of CLABSI quality data using a cross-sectional survey of members of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Research Network (SRN). The investigators found that significant variability in the interpretation of CLABSI data exists among experts. They assert that this finding is likely related to data complexity, particularly with respect to risk-adjusted data. They suggest that improvements appear necessary in data sharing and public policy efforts to account for this complexity.
AHRQ-funded; HS022835.
Citation: Govindan S, Wallace B, Iwashyna TJ .
Do experts understand performance measures? A mixed-methods study of infection preventionists.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018 Jan;39(1):71-76. doi: 10.1017/ice.2017.243..
Keywords: Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI), Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI), Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), Provider, Provider Performance, Quality of Care, Quality Measures