AHRQ-Funded Studies Consider Tramadol Use and Safety Trends

AHRQ Stats: Trends in Severe Maternal Morbidity

The rate of severe maternal morbidity increased 40 percent between 2016 and 2021, from 72 cases for every 10,000-delivery hospital stays in 2016 to 101.1 per 10,000 in 2021. (Source: AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #312, Trends in Severe Maternal Morbidity Complications by Patient Characteristics, 2016-2021 [PDF, 943 KB].)

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ-Funded Studies Consider Tramadol Use and Safety Trends.
• Due Dec. 9: Letters of Intent for Applicants Seeking To Join Healthcare Extension Service Cooperatives.
• Institutional Learning Networks and Translational Research Drive Pediatric Health Equity Innovations.
• New Data Files Provide Comprehensive View of U.S. Healthcare.
• Searchable AHRQ Database Provides Access to Health Services Research Findings.
• Register for Upcoming AHRQ Webinars.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ-Funded Studies Consider Tramadol Use and Safety Trends

Two AHRQ-funded studies offer insight into the use of tramadol, a synthetic opioid medication used for pain management. One article published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology explored the risk of opioid overdose when tramadol is combined with clopidogrel, a common antiplatelet drug. Researchers found a low rate of opioid overdose for patients who initiated tramadol while using antiplatelet therapy, including clopidogrel. A second study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine examined tramadol prescription trends from 2005 to 2021, revealing higher use in older adults and women, with an annual decrease in prescriptions following the drug’s 2014 reclassification as a controlled substance.

Due Dec. 9: Letters of Intent for Applicants Seeking To Join Healthcare Extension Service Cooperatives

Letters of intent are due by close of business Dec. 9 for applicants seeking to become one of up to 15 cooperatives in AHRQ’s State-based Healthcare Extension Cooperatives to Accelerate Implementation of Actionable Knowledge into Practice. Letters of intent are not required or binding, and are not considered in application reviews, but they allow AHRQ staff to estimate the potential application workload and plan reviews. Letters of intent should be submitted to AHRQ_HES@ahrq.hhs.gov and include details specified in Section IV of the Notice of Funding Opportunity announcement. To support applicants, AHRQ has provided technical assistance resources and answers to frequently asked questions (PDF, 297 KB).

Institutional Learning Networks and Translational Research Drive Pediatric Health Equity Innovations

Two articles from an AHRQ-funded research project present innovative approaches to advancing health equity by drawing from lessons learned in tackling pediatric healthcare disparities. The first article, published in Pediatrics, details the development of the Health Equity Network at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, which addresses both medical and social determinants of health by implementing targeted interventions to reduce racial disparities in pediatric hospitalizations. Access the abstract. The second publication, a viewpoint in JAMA Pediatrics, introduces the 4Ps Roadmap, an adaptation of a translational research framework, that guides healthcare systems in achieving equitable population health outcomes. These studies underscore the importance of institutional-level approaches and research-driven strategies to address root causes of disparities in healthcare, the authors concluded.

New Data Files Provide Comprehensive View of U.S. Healthcare

AHRQ has released six new files as part of the Compendium of U.S. Health Systems, the foremost public resource for studying characteristics of healthcare organizations over time:

• The Group Practice linkage files now span 2020-22 and include information on system affiliation, size and billing activity for the nation’s 35,448 group practices. Researchers can now conduct practice-level longitudinal analyses.
• The Outpatient Site linkage files, which contain street-level information on 279,446 sites, have been updated through 2023. This information complements data on ownership relationships and system affiliations and can be used to classify sites by type, including primary care and behavioral health.
• The new 2023 Hospital linkage file includes 6,800 hospitals, with data on system affiliation, corporate parents, size and revenue.
• The System files, the cornerstone of the compendium, now include 2023 data and continue to provide key measures of size, composition, insurance offerings and systemwide hospital revenue for the 639 systems in the compendium.

The Compendium of U.S. Health Systems is a product of AHRQ's Comparative Health System Performance Initiative.

Searchable AHRQ Database Provides Access to Health Services Research Findings

Researchers seeking the latest research on topics ranging from diagnostic safety to primary care to hospital readmissions can find it in AHRQ’s Research Studies database. The database provides more than 10,000 published summaries of journal articles, book chapters and working papers from 2013 to present, including more than 600 publications in 2024. Updated monthly, the resource allows searching by keyword and provides links to journal abstracts. Access the database.

Register for Upcoming AHRQ Webinars

• Dec. 10, noon to 1 p.m. ET: Resolving Workforce Turnover Crisis will highlight strategies to reduce staff turnover and promote workforce safety in healthcare. The webinar is sponsored by the AHRQ-led National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety, a public-private collaboration established by AHRQ on behalf of HHS.
• Dec. 10, 1 to 2 p.m. ET: How Patient Narratives Can Support Your Patient Experience Strategy, sponsored by AHRQ’s Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) program, will describe how patient narratives can identify and address improvement opportunities.

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• Pediatric Quality Measures Program 3.0: An Evidence Map of Measures for Vision, Hearing, and Developmental Screening and Followup (draft open for comment)

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Pediatric mental health care and scope-of-practice expansions. Hughes PM, Graaf G, Gigli KH, et al. Adm Policy Ment Health 2024 May;51(3):384-92. Epub 2024 Feb 13. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Evaluating a virtual facilitation workshop with antimicrobial stewardship teams within a cluster randomized stepped-wedge trial. Malone S, Bono K, Saito JM, et al. BMC Health Serv Res 2024 Oct 21;24(1):1263. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Medicaid expansion and opioid prescriptions: evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. McClellan C, Moriya A. Health Econ 2024 Nov;33(11):2439-49. Epub 2024 Aug 5. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Reimagining how we synthesize information to impact clinical care, policy, and research priorities in real time: examples and lessons learned from COVID-19. Gustavson AM, Morrow CD, Brown RJ, et al. J Gen Intern Med 2024 Oct;39(13):2554-9. Epub 2024 Jun 26. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Associations of primary care provider burnout with quality improvement, patient experience measurement, clinic culture, and job satisfaction. Quigley DD, Slaughter ME, Qureshi N, et al. J Gen Intern Med 2024 Jul;39(9):1567-74. Epub 2024 Jan 25. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Health care utilization in Alaska Native people receiving chronic disease specialty care by videoconsultation compared to propensity-matched controls. Ferucci ED, Arnold RI, Holck P. J Telemed Telecare 2024 Jul;30(6):941-8. Epub 2022 Jun 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Cost-effectiveness of a primary care-based Healthy Weight Clinic compared with usual care. Sharifi M, Fiechtner LG, Barrett JL, et al. Obesity 2024 Sep;32(9):1734-44. Epub 2024 Aug 28. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Diet quality, community food access, and glycemic control among nulliparous individuals with diabetes. Venkatesh KK, Yee LM, Wu J, et al. Prim Care Diabetes 2024 Oct;18(5):506-10. Epub 2024 Jul 6. Access the abstract on PubMed®.