June 4, 2024, Issue #915

AHRQ Stats: Maternal Deaths by Area Income

In 2020, among women living in the lowest-income areas, an average of 11 died for every 100,000 maternity admissions—more than twice the average of 5.1 deaths for every 100,000 maternity admissions among those living in the highest-income areas. (Source: AHRQ 2024 Chartbook on Patient Safety.)

Today's Headlines:

• Racial and Ethnic Disparities Widened in Well-Child Visits During COVID-19
• AHRQ Views: Transforming Healthcare To Improve the Health and Well-Being of Older Americans
• Grantee Profile Highlights Work of Jenn Leiferman To Address Maternal Depression
• Public School Systems Adapted AHRQ TeamSTEPPS® To Improve Mental Healthcare Services
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ
• Explore Careers at AHRQ

Racial and Ethnic Disparities Widened in Well-Child Visits During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in racial and ethnic disparities among children in attendance to recommended well-child visits, according to an AHRQ study. The research, published in Academic Pediatrics, is discussed in a new podcast featuring the study’s lead author, AHRQ Senior Economist Salam Abdus, Ph.D. Data from AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey showed that average attendance to well-child visits decreased from 66.6 percent during the pre-pandemic period (2018–2019) to 58.6 percent in 2020. During those time periods, the unadjusted disparities in attendance widened from 9.6 percentage points to 24.8 percentage points between White non-Hispanic and Black non-Hispanic children, and from 14.8 percentage points to 26.3 percentage points between White non-Hispanic and Hispanic children. The authors concluded that the widening attendance disparities highlight the need to build a more equitable healthcare system for all children. Access the abstract.

AHRQ Views: Transforming Healthcare To Improve the Health and Well-Being of Older Americans

AHRQ’s growing efforts to improve healthcare for older adults, particularly those with multiple chronic conditions, is the subject of a new AHRQ Views blog post. Our current healthcare system is ill-equipped to meet the complex healthcare needs of older adults, who often receive suboptimal care that leads to avoidable adverse events, hospitalizations and other poor outcomes. A recent Special Emphasis Notice announced AHRQ’s interest in funding research proposals to address the development, implementation, evaluation and scalability of person-centered models of care to improve physical and mental health, functional status and overall well-being. The blog post asserts that future initiatives must prioritize equitable care for disadvantaged individuals and communities that have a higher burden of illness, less access to care and inadequate resources. Access the blog post. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address.

Grantee Profile Highlights Work of Jenn Leiferman To Address Maternal Depression

Jenn Leiferman, Ph.D., chair and professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at the University of Colorado-Denver, focuses her research on maternal and child mental health. Mental health conditions, including perinatal or maternal depression that occurs during pregnancy and up to a year after delivery, are a leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States. Dr. Leiferman has used AHRQ funding to develop and test educational interventions and strategies to address perinatal mental health. Access Dr. Leiferman’s grantee profile and the profiles of other AHRQ grantees.

Public School Systems Adapted AHRQ TeamSTEPPS® To Improve Mental Healthcare Services

Three U.S. public school systems are pilot testing an adapted AHRQ TeamSTEPPS® team training curriculum to improve mental healthcare services for children. A new article published in the journal School Mental Health describes the work. The pilot project addresses challenges including limited resources (e.g., financial support, time and personnel) and communication issues through tailored training and implementation strategies. TeamSTEPPS is an evidence-based set of teamwork tools aimed at optimizing patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among healthcare teams, including patients and family caregivers. Access the article’s full text.

Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network

AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include:

• Impact of diagnostic management team on patient time to diagnosis and percent of accurate and clinically actionable diagnoses.
• A strategic solution to preventing the harm associated with ambulance handover delays.
• Impact of pharmacist-led interventions on medication-related problems among patients treated for cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials.

Review additional new publications in PSNet’s current issue, including recent cases and commentaries and AHRQ’s WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web).

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• White Paper: Making Healthcare Safer IV: Summary of Findings on Year 1 Topics
• Technical Brief: Measuring Documentation Burden in Healthcare
• Systematic Review (draft open for comment): Interventions to Improve Care of Bereaved Persons
• Systematic Review (draft open for comment): Diagnosis and Management of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders in Children

Explore Careers at AHRQ

Join the team that strives to improve healthcare for all Americans by investing in health systems research, creating strategies to support practice improvement and providing data and analytics to identify opportunities for improvement. Current vacancies include:

• Health Scientist Administrator/Division of Scientific Review, Office of Extramural Research, Education and Priority Populations. Application deadline: June 5
• Program Analyst, Office of Extramural Research, Education and Priority Populations. Application deadline: June 6.
• Health Scientist Administrator, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. Application deadline: June 6.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Using artificial intelligence to promote equitable care for inpatients with language barriers and complex medical needs: clinical stakeholder perspectives. Barwise AK, Curtis S, Diedrich DA, et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2024 Feb 16;31(3):611-21. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Conceptualizing and measuring trust, mistrust, and distrust: implications for advancing health equity and building trustworthiness. Richmond J, Anderson A, Cunningham-Erves J, et al. Annu Rev Public Health. 2023 Dec 15. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Impact of inpatient addiction psychiatry consultation on opioid use disorder outcomes. Kast KA, Le TDV, Stewart LS, et al. Am J Addict. 2024 Mar 28. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

The association of oncology provider density with black-white disparities in cancer mortality in US counties. Zhang Y, Leifheit KM, Lee KT, et al. Cancer Control. 2024 Jan-Dec;31. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Rural hospitals experienced more patient volume variability than urban hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-21. Jiang HJ, Henke RM, Fingar KR, et al. Health Affairs. 2024 May;43(5):641-50. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Serious mental illness in assisted living communities: association with nursing home placement. Temkin-Greener H, Guo W, McGarry B, et al. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2024 May;25(5):917-22. Epub 2024 Apr 1. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Emergency department volume and delayed diagnosis of serious pediatric conditions. Michelson KA, Rees CA, Florin TA, et al. JAMA Pediatr. 2024 Apr;178(4):362-8. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Case sampling for evaluating hospital postoperative morbidity in US surgical quality improvement programs. Chen VW, Rosen T, Dong Y, et al. JAMA Surg. 2024 Mar;159(3):315-22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Contact Information
For comments or questions about AHRQ News Now, contact Bruce Seeman, (301) 427-1998 or Bruce.Seeman@ahrq.hhs.gov.