March 11, 2025, Issue #949 AHRQ Stats: Trends in MRSA Rates, 2016 to 2021 While the overall rate of adult inpatient stays with a diagnosis of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) decreased by nearly 11 percent between 2016 and 2021, rates of MRSA infections that occurred after admission increased by 47 percent between 2019 and 2021. (Source: AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #315, Overview of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-Related Inpatient Stays, 2016-2021.) Today's Headlines:A new interactive tool from AHRQ allows researchers, policymakers and others to explore trends in hospital care for sepsis, a life-threatening condition that is among the most expensive to treat in U.S. hospitals. Sepsis caseloads in inpatient settings at nonfederal acute care hospitals increased from 1.8 million in 2016 to 2.5 million in 2021, an increase of nearly 40 percent. AHRQ’s new resource, released during Patient Safety Awareness Week 2025 and based on AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data, allows for the analysis of sepsis-related data over time in two important areas:
- Morbidity and in-hospital mortality, including inpatient stays and emergency department utilization, readmissions, post-acute care transitions after hospitalization and in-hospital deaths.
- Outcomes of sepsis hospitalizations, including length of stay, average hospital cost and total hospital costs by patient characteristics.
Additional data depicting state-specific utilization in sepsis hospital care will be added soon to the data visualization. Access this new data resource and other AHRQ data visualizations for information on diverse topics such as trends in ownership of healthcare practices, opioid hospitalizations and traumatic brain injuries. |
During Patient Safety Awareness Week 2025, AHRQ is showcasing its role as the federal agency leading support for research and initiatives to protect patients from avoidable harms. Highlights include—
- Updates to the National Healthcare Safety Dashboard, a resource for understanding the current state of patient and workforce safety. The dashboard, based on publicly available sources, makes national safety data more transparent, beginning with hospitals. The resource was developed by the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety, an AHRQ-led collaboration of federal and private entities dedicated to zero preventable harm.
- Publication of An Assessment of Sepsis in the United States and Its Burden on Hospital Care, a report to Congress that cites data from AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project to offer a comprehensive assessment of sepsis, statistics on sepsis-related hospitalizations, and an outline of the impact of sepsis on the hospital system.
- The Surveys on Patient Safety Culture Program (SOPS®), which helps healthcare organizations assess provider and staff perceptions of patient safety culture.
- Recruitment for the AHRQ Safety Program for HAI Prevention: CLABSI, which is a 9-month national cohort focused on improving infection prevention practices and reducing central line-associated bloodstream infections through evidence-based tools.
Access more about AHRQ’s efforts to advance the field of patient safety, including information about diagnostic safety, safety research summaries, resources by setting, quality measures and more. |
| Delaying delivery of broad-spectrum antibiotics does not result in worse patient outcomes, according to an AHRQ-supported article in Clinical Infectious Diseases. In a study that compared 67,046 patients who received delayed broad-spectrum therapy with 67,046 patients who received early broad-spectrum therapy, the authors found that death occurred in 8.7 percent of delayed broad-spectrum treatment cases, adverse drug events in 8.4 percent and readmission in 10.5 percent. In contrast, after early treatment, death occurred in 9.5 percent of cases, adverse drug events in 7.2 percent and readmission in 11.8 percent. These findings demonstrated that beginning therapy with narrower-spectrum antibiotics may not pose significant risks and could reduce antibiotic overexposure. Access the abstract. |
AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include—
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). - March 12 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. ET: AHRQ Quality Indicators Listening Session will allow hospitals, health systems, accountable care organizations, health and hospital associations, health plans, health departments and federal entities to provide feedback on AHRQ’s Quality Indicators The event will cover topics including organizational use and value, measure selection and enhancement, software features and technical support, and recommendations for the future.
- March 18, 2:30 to 4 p.m. ET: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools To Improve Provider Effectiveness and Patient Outcomes will cover AI’s potential to enhance clinician productivity, improve quality of care and increase patients’ engagement in their own care. Expert panelists will discuss their own research on leveraging AI tools to improve provider effectiveness and patient outcomes in clinical settings. Continuing education/continuing medical education accreditation is available for the event, sponsored by AHRQ’s Digital Healthcare Research Program.
- March 18, noon to 1 p.m. ET: Safety Culture in Healthcare: Improving Safety Culture Using Teamwork and Patient Safety Norms will be the second of a three-part series on safety culture in healthcare. The event, sponsored by the AHRQ-led National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety, will highlight two AHRQ initiatives—TeamSTEPPS® and the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP)—that can help create safe, supportive environments for patients and healthcare professionals.
- April 3, 2 to 3:15 p.m. ET: The Impact of Consolidation and Ownership on Primary Care will highlight research on how health system ownership of primary care practices impacts primary care and patient health, including for Medicare beneficiaries and medically complex patients. The event is sponsored by AHRQ’s National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research.
|
| AHRQ in the Professional LiteratureOutpatient low-dose initiation of buprenorphine for people using fentanyl. Suen LW, Chiang AY, Jones BLH, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Jan 2;8(1):e2456253. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
A perspective on the use of patient-reported experience and patient-reported outcome measures in ambulatory healthcare. Hays RD, Quigley DD. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res. 2025 Jan 17. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.
Reducing antibiotic duration for acute otitis media: clinician, administrator, and parental insights to inform implementation of system-level interventions. Rinehart DJ, Gilbert A, O'Leary S, et al. Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. 2025 Jan 2025;5(1):e3. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
Access to pediatric bed capacity according to social determinants of health: all beds are not created equal. Hegland TA, Day RT, Moynihan KM. J Pediatr. 2025 Mar;278:114447. Epub 2024 Dec 21. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
Hospitalization patterns for rural-residing children from 2002 to 2017. McDaniel CE, Hall M, Berry JG. Acad Pediatr. 2025 Jan-Feb;25(1):102554. Epub 2024 Aug 5. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
CT pulmonary angiogram clinical pretest probability tool: impact on emergency department utilization. Rosovsky RP, Isabelle M, Abbasi N, et al. J Am Coll Radiol. 2024 Dec;21(12):1851-61. Epub 2024 Aug 10. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
Hospital-physician integration and cardiac rehabilitation following major cardiovascular events. Thai NH, Post B, Young G, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Mar 3;8(3):e2462580. Access the abstract on PubMed®.
Trends in Medicaid take-up among eligible adults after the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansions: 2014-2019. Abdus S. Med Care Res Rev. 2025 Feb;82(1):100-6. Epub 2024 Sep 5. 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. |
