June 11, 2024, Issue #916

AHRQ Stats: Distribution of Race/Ethnicity Among People With High Expenses

In 2021, Non-Hispanic White people were more likely to have higher healthcare expenditures than other race/ethnicity groups, comprising 74.1 percent of people in the top 5 percent healthcare expenditure tier. (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #556, Concentration of Healthcare Expenditures and Selected Characteristics of Persons With High Expenses, United Stats Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2018-2021.)

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Announces Plans for National Healthcare Extension Service To Disseminate Evidence
• AHRQ Views: Advancing Evidence-Based Medicine With Clinical Decision Support
• Register Now for June 18 Webinar on the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety
• Study Finds No Improvement From Antibiotics for Patients With Lower Respiratory Tract Infections
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network
• Registration Open for June 20 Webinar on Practice-Based Research Networks

AHRQ Announces Plans for National Healthcare Extension Service To Disseminate Evidence

A Notice of Information issued by AHRQ signals the agency’s intent to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity to create state-based healthcare extension cooperatives to increase the use of patient-centered outcomes research evidence in clinical practice. Cooperatives will work with Medicaid agencies, managed care organizations, community groups, policy and payment experts and others to improve care delivery. AHRQ will also issue funding opportunities for two related projects: a national coordinating center and a national evaluation center. Working together, these projects will be designed to accelerate the dissemination and implementation of patient-centered outcomes research evidence through improvements in healthcare policy, payment and practice, and to reduce healthcare disparities, especially among people who receive Medicaid, are uninsured or are otherwise medically underserved. Access more information about the initiative, plus a recent JAMA Networkviewpoint article by AHRQ experts.

AHRQ Views: Advancing Evidence-Based Medicine With Clinical Decision Support

AHRQ’s ongoing research investments in clinical decision support (CDS) and its potential to help clinical teams recommend the latest evidence-based medicine to patients is the subject of a new AHRQ Views blog post. AHRQ’s Digital Healthcare Research Program has supported CDS research, implementation and demonstration projects throughout its 20-year history. Among other initiatives, AHRQ’s CDS Connect provides a web-based platform for authoring, sharing and reusing CDS so healthcare systems and developers can build upon what has already been developed. A recent Notice of Intent signaled AHRQ’s intent to fund new research on patient-centered CDS to explore how to involve patients, families and caregivers in CDS development. Access the blog post. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address.

Register Now for June 18 Webinar on the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety

Registration is open for a webinar on June 18 from noon to 1 p.m. ET to highlight opportunities for elevating the patient voice when planning strategies for improving healthcare safety. The National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety, established by AHRQ on behalf of HHS, is a public-private collaboration that strives to improve safety across all healthcare settings. The webinar will feature presentations from experts at the Cincinnati College of Medicine who will discuss safety improvement efforts in pediatric care related to the following topics: listening to patient and family voices, strategies for meaningful engagement of patients and families, and the importance of workforce safety in driving patient safety. Access more information from previous National Action Alliance webinars and tools and resources to advance patient and workforce safety. Registration for future webinars is available on the National Action Alliance website.

Study Finds No Improvement From Antibiotics for Patients With Lower Respiratory Tract Infections

Prescribed antibiotics did not reduce the duration and severity of coughing in patients with acute lower respiratory tract infections, a new AHRQ-funded study has found. The study, published in Journal of General Internal Medicine, analyzed data from more than 700 adult patients across primary and urgent care facilities in the United States. Researchers found that 29 percent of patients with cough and lower respiratory tract infection symptoms were prescribed antibiotics, but antibiotic provision did not affect cough duration or overall severity, regardless of viral, bacterial or mixed infections. Researchers concluded that patients had unrealistic expectations regarding the duration of lower respiratory tract infection and the effect of antibiotics, which should be the target of antibiotic stewardship efforts. Access the abstract.

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:

• Large language models for preventing medication direction errors in online pharmacies.
• Strengthening the use of artificial intelligence within healthcare delivery organizations: balancing regulatory compliance and patient safety.
• WHO Global Report on Patient Safety.
• Improving communication of diagnostic uncertainty to families of hospitalized children.

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).

Registration Open for June 20 Webinar on Practice-Based Research Networks

Register now for the first webinar in a new AHRQ Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRN) learning series to support and promote the work of PBRNs. The webinar, Managing and Growing an Established PBRN, is scheduled for June 20 from 4 to 5 p.m. ET. PBRNs engage practicing primary care clinicians in asking and answering clinical and organizational questions about primary healthcare. The webinar series will feature examples, information and advice from leaders actively working in PBRNs. It is sponsored by AHRQ’s National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research and is open to anyone interested in working with PBRNs.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Measuring access to mental health services among primary care patients. Hargraves JL, Cosenza C, Cleary PD. Med Care. 2024 Jun 6. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Telehealth safety framework: addressing a new frontier in patient safety. Gomes KM, Apathy N, Krevat S, et al. J Patient Saf. 2024 Jun 6. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Acute care utilization for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions among publicly insured children. Shapiro DJ, Hall M, Ramgopal S, et al. Acad Emerg Med. 2024 Apr;31(4):343-53. Epub 2024 Feb 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Usability testing of situation awareness clinical decision support in the intensive care unit. Molloy MJ, Zackoff M, Gifford A, et al. Appl Clin Inform. 2024 Mar;15(2):327-34. Epub 2024 Feb 20. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Does engagement matter? The impact of patient and community engagement on implementation of cardiovascular health materials in primary care settings. Zittleman L, Westfall JM, Callen D, et al. BMC Prim Care. 2024 Apr 25;25(1):135. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Measuring equity in readmission as a distinct assessment of hospital performance. Nash KA, Weerahandi H, Yu H, et al. JAMA. 2024 Jan 9;331(2):111-23. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Development and evaluation of I-PASS-to-PICU: a standard electronic template to improve referral communication for interfacility transfers to the pediatric ICU. Parikh NR, Francisco LS, Balikai SC, et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2024 May;50(5):338-47. Epub 2024 Jan 24. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Causal mediation of neighborhood-level pediatric hospitalization inequities. Brokamp C, Jones MN, Duan Q, et al. Pediatrics. 2024 Apr;153(4):e2023064432. 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.