Applicants Sought to Establish State-Based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives

AHRQ Stats: Sepsis Treatment Locations 2019 to 2021

About 85 percent of sepsis cases were treated in urban hospitals, ranging from 1.8 million in 2019 to 2.1 million in 2021. The remaining 15 percent of cases were treated in rural hospitals, ranging from nearly 339 million in 2019 to just over 381 million in 2021. (Source: AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #308 – Rural and Urban Hospital Differences in Inpatient Stays Involving Sepsis, 2019 and 2021 [PDF, 1 MB].)

Today's Headlines:

• Applicants Sought To Establish State-Based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives.
• Wide Disparities Found in Receipt of High-Priority Preventive Services.
• Register Now for Sept. 17 National Action Alliance Webinar on Advancing Patient Safety Through Diagnostic Excellence.
• New Standards Support Integrating Data for Person-Centered Care Planning.
• Data Submission Open Oct. 1 for Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® Nursing Home Database.
• Issue Brief Addresses Advancing Diagnostic Safety in Older Adults.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Applicants Sought To Establish State-Based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives

A Notice of Funding Opportunity from AHRQ seeks applicants to establish and support state-based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives to accelerate the dissemination and implementation of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) evidence into healthcare delivery. AHRQ plans to award up to 15 grants for state-based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives for up to $25 million each over 5 years. The Healthcare Cooperatives will support states’ efforts to improve healthcare policy, align payment incentives, and advance clinical practice, and to reduce healthcare disparities, especially among people who receive Medicaid, are uninsured, or are medically underserved. The Healthcare Cooperatives will be part of AHRQ’s Healthcare Extension Service: State-based Solutions to Healthcare Improvement, which will also include a National Coordinating Center and a National Evaluation Center. Notices of Funding Opportunities for the two centers will be announced in early fall. Access more information about the Healthcare Extension Service, whose overall goal is to significantly reduce the time span between evidence generation and its use in healthcare delivery.

Wide Disparities Found in Receipt of High-Priority Preventive Services

Only 6 percent of adults ages 35 and older received all of their recommended high-priority preventive services in 2018, according to the first national estimate of disparities in the receipt of person-centered preventive services. The analysis, based on data from about 15,000 respondents to AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, found sizable disparities associated with all sociodemographic characteristics examined. For example, Black adults were 37 percent less likely than White adults to receive all 15 high-priority clinical preventive services. Those with a high school education or less were less than half as likely as college graduates to receive high-priority services. Adults with low incomes, those who spoke a language other than English, or those who were uninsured were all much less likely to receive all recommended high-priority services than their counterparts. Access the article in Discover Health Systems.

Register Now for Sept. 17 National Action Alliance Webinar on Advancing Patient Safety Through Diagnostic Excellence

Registration is open for a webinar on Sept. 17 from noon to 1 p.m. ET to highlight efforts to improve patient safety through better diagnosis. The event, hosted by the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety, will occur on World Patient Safety Day. Experts from the University of Toronto, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and RAND will share recently developed tools and strategies for reducing diagnostic error. Learn more about the National Action Alliance, a public-private collaboration established by AHRQ on behalf of HHS. Subscribe to the initiative’s newsletter and access tools and resources to improve care.

New Standards Support Integrating Data for Person-Centered Care Planning

Person-centered data often are not easily shared from one health setting to another, in part because electronic health records (EHR) at different settings don’t “talk” to one another. To address this challenge, AHRQ and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases developed a Health Level 7 (HL7) implementation guide that provides data standards for the aggregation and sharing of data from different EHRs and settings to support person-centered care planning and care coordination for people at risk for or living with multiple chronic conditions. The HL7 Implementation Guide is part of the eCare Plan project, which aims to build SMART on FHIR electronic care plan applications that allow all members of the healthcare team—including people receiving care and their caregivers—to see and share critical health data.

Data Submission Open Oct. 1 for Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® Nursing Home Database

Voluntary data submission for AHRQ’s Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® (SOPS®) Nursing Home Database is open Oct. 1–21 for nursing homes that have administered AHRQ’s SOPS Nursing Home Survey and the Workplace Safety Supplemental Items. Participating nursing homes will receive feedback reports comparing their results to the overall de-identified database results. Access the survey and supporting materials and learn more about database submission.

Issue Brief Addresses Advancing Diagnostic Safety in Older Adults

A new AHRQ issue brief highlights the unique patient, clinician, and systemic-related factors that impact diagnostic errors in older adults, with the objective of identifying opportunities for diagnostic improvement. The number of older Americans is projected to nearly double by 2060, with those aged 85 and older—many of whom have multiple chronic conditions and complex health and social needs—expected to nearly quadruple between 2000-2040. The issue brief provides several recommendations for practice improvement, research, and policy to reduce older adults’ risk of diagnostic error. It also underscores the critical role of caregivers in the diagnostic process, recognizing the valuable insights they contribute. Access the issue brief, plus other AHRQ publications related to diagnostic safety.

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:

• Hospital commitments to address diagnostic errors: an assessment of 95 US hospitals.
• Impact of rounding checklists on the outcomes of patients admitted to ICUs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
• The problem with 'never events'.

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

• Systematic Review: Pharmacologic and Nonpharmacologic Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: 2024 Update of the Evidence Base for the PTSD Trials Standardized Data Repository.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Market factors associated with comprehensive behavioral health crisis care availability: a resource dependence theory study. Burns A, Vest JR, Menachemi N, et al. Inquiry 2024 Jan-Dec;61:469580241256822. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Urinary retention evaluation and catheterization algorithm for adult inpatients. Chrouser K, Fowler KE, Mann JD, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2024 Jul;7(7):e2422281. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Differential hospital participation in bundled payments in communities with higher shares of marginalized populations. Crowley AP, Neville S, Sun C, et al. J Gen Intern Med 2024 May;39(7):1180-7. Epub 2024 Feb 6. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Profile of older dual-enrollees living in areas with managed long-term services and supports. Jopson AD, Fabius CD, Shen K, et al. J Am Med Dir Assoc 2024 Apr;25(4):722-8. Epub 2023 Dec 13. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Value-based payment models and management of newly diagnosed prostate cancer. Maganty A, Kaufman SR, Oerline MK, et al. Cancer Med 2024 Jan;13(1):e6810. Epub 2023 Dec 26. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Predictors of transition outcomes in cystic fibrosis: analysis of National Patient Registry and CF RISE (Responsibility. Independence. Self-care. Education) data. Melton K, Liu J, Sadeghi H, et al. J Pediatr 2024 Feb;265:113812. Epub 2023 Nov 2. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Comparative analysis of machine learning versus traditional method for early detection of parental depression symptoms in the NICU. Sadjadpour F, Hosseinichimeh N, Abedi V, et al. Front Public Health 2024 May 28;12:1380034. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Barriers and facilitators to harm reduction for opioid use disorder: a qualitative study of people with lived experience. Westafer LM, Beck SA, Simon C, et al. Ann Emerg Med 2024 Apr;83(4):340-50. Epub 2024 Jan 3. Access the abstract on PubMed®.