National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
Latest available findings on quality of and access to health care
Data
- Data Infographics
- Data Visualizations
- Data Tools
- Data Innovations
- All-Payer Claims Database
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)
- Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
- AHRQ Quality Indicator Tools for Data Analytics
- State Snapshots
- United States Health Information Knowledgebase (USHIK)
- Data Sources Available from AHRQ
Search All Research Studies
AHRQ Research Studies Date
Topics
- (-) Access to Care (5)
- Cancer (1)
- Cancer: Lung Cancer (1)
- Children/Adolescents (1)
- COVID-19 (1)
- Critical Care (1)
- Digestive Disease and Health (1)
- Evidence-Based Practice (1)
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) (1)
- Medicaid (1)
- Outcomes (2)
- Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (1)
- Public Health (1)
- Quality Improvement (1)
- Quality of Care (1)
- Registries (1)
- Rural Health (1)
- (-) Surgery (5)
- Transplantation (1)
AHRQ Research Studies
Sign up: AHRQ Research Studies Email updates
Research Studies is a compilation of published research articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers.
Results
1 to 5 of 5 Research Studies DisplayedGreenberg JK, Brown DS, Olsen MA
Association of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act with access to elective spine surgical care.
This study's goal was to evaluate the impact of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act on the volume and payer mix of elective spine surgery in the United States. The authors evaluated elective spinal surgeries performed in the U.S. from 2011 to 2016 and included 10 states with expanded Medicaid access and 4 states that did not. They identified 218,648 surgical procedures performed in 10 Medicaid expansion states and 118,693 procedures performed in 4 nonexpansion states. Medicaid expansion was associated with a 17% increase in mean hospital spine surgical volume and a 23% increase in Medicaid volume. Privately insured surgical volumes did not change significantly. This increase indicated improved access to care.
AHRQ-funded; HS027075.
Citation: Greenberg JK, Brown DS, Olsen MA .
Association of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act with access to elective spine surgical care.
J Neurosurg Spine 2022 Feb;36(2):336–44. doi: 10.3171/2021.3.Spine2122..
Keywords: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Medicaid, Access to Care, Surgery
Leeds IL, Jones C, DiBrito SR
Delay in emergency hernia surgery is associated with worse outcomes.
The purpose of this study was to determine if the variation in timing of urgent surgery impacts surgical outcomes. The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database was searched for emergent surgeries in 2011-2016 for abdominal hernia resulting in obstruction or gangrene by primary post-op diagnosis. Findings showed that delayed surgery was associated with increased rates of major complications, longer operative times, longer postoperative lengths of stay, increased re-operations, increased readmissions, and increased 30-day mortality. Next-day surgery and surgery delayed more than one day were associated with increased odds of a major complication.
AHRQ-funded; HS024547.
Citation: Leeds IL, Jones C, DiBrito SR .
Delay in emergency hernia surgery is associated with worse outcomes.
Surg Endosc 2020 Oct;34(10):4562-73. doi: 10.1007/s00464-019-07245-4..
Keywords: Surgery, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Critical Care, Access to Care, Digestive Disease and Health, Outcomes
Herb JN, Dunham LN, Mody G
Lung cancer surgical regionalization disproportionately worsens travel distance for rural patients.
Researchers hypothesized that lung cancer patients have been traveling further for surgery over time as regionalization has occurred, and this increased travel has primarily impacted rural patients. Using data from a North Carolina all-payer state discharge database, they found that the number of hospitals performing lung cancer resections decreased from 49 to 31 over the study period, and the proportion of patients receiving care at high-volume centers increased. Rural patient travel distance increased over time by 8.5 miles, with no change in urban patient travel distance. They concluded that, in North Carolina, lung cancer surgical regionalization occurred over the study period and was accompanied by increases in travel distance for rural patients only. They recommended further work to determine the effects of greater travel distance on patterns of cancer care for rural patients.
AHRQ-funded; HS000032.
Citation: Herb JN, Dunham LN, Mody G .
Lung cancer surgical regionalization disproportionately worsens travel distance for rural patients.
J Rural Health 2020 Sep;36(4):496-505. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12440..
Keywords: Cancer: Lung Cancer, Cancer, Rural Health, Surgery, Access to Care
Patterson ES, Papautsky EL, Krok-Schoen JL
Scheduling delayed treatment and surgeries post-pandemic: a stakeholder analysis.
The purpose of this study was to assess diverse stakeholder perspectives regarding how to trade off risks and benefits to patients, healthcare providers, and the local community. The study found that there exists a high number of different categories of stakeholders affected by the post-pandemic decisions to reschedule delayed treatments and surgeries. The primary stakeholders for a delayed surgery are the surgeon with knowledge of the clinical benefits of undertaking an operation and the patient's willingness to tolerate uncertainty and the increased risk of infection. For decisions about capacity in the operating rooms and inpatient setting after the surgery, the primary factors are reducing staff infections, preventing patients from contracting COVID-19 during operations and during post-surgical recovery at the hospital, conserving critical resources such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and addressing the quality of life needs of hospital staff, such as childcare and preventing infecting members of their household. The timing and selection of elective surgery cases has an effect on the ability of hospitals to manage finances, which impacts decisions about staff employment when resources such as rooms are not being utilized.
AHRQ-funded; HS024379.
Citation: Patterson ES, Papautsky EL, Krok-Schoen JL .
Scheduling delayed treatment and surgeries post-pandemic: a stakeholder analysis.
Proc Int Symp Hum Factors Ergon Healthc 2020 Sep;9(1):10-14. doi: 10.1177/2327857920091066..
Keywords: COVID-19, Surgery, Public Health, Access to Care
Mogul DB, Perito ER, Wood N
Impact of acuity circles on outcomes for pediatric liver transplant candidates.
In December 2018, UNOS approved an allocation scheme based on recipients' geographic distance from a deceased donor ("acuity circles"). Previous analyses suggested acuity circles (AC) would reduce waitlist mortality overall, but their impact on pediatric subgroups was not considered. In this study, the investigators applied Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients data from 2011-2016 towards the Liver Simulated Allocation Model (LSAM) to compare outcomes by age and illness severity for the UNOS-approved AC and the existing Donor Service Area (DSA)/Region-based allocation schemes.
AHRQ-funded; HS023876.
Citation: Mogul DB, Perito ER, Wood N .
Impact of acuity circles on outcomes for pediatric liver transplant candidates.
Transplantation 2020 Aug;104(8):1627-32. doi: 10.1097/tp.0000000000003079..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Transplantation, Outcomes, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Evidence-Based Practice, Registries, Surgery, Access to Care