Articles of Interest Alert

August 12, 2005


These articles appeared in recently released journals and newsletters. They include articles funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) or authored by AHRQ researchers; articles mentioning or discussing AHRQ; articles related to AHRQ-funded Evidence-based Practice Centers; articles mentioning the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force/Put Prevention into Practice; articles mentioning the Presidents Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry and Agency-supported activities relating to the Quality Interagency Task Force; and other research using AHRQ data.


AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles

Academic Emergency Medicine
Newgard CD, Hui SH, Griffin A, et al. Prospective validation of an out-of-hospital decision rule to identify seriously injured children involved in motor vehicle crashes. Acad Emerg Med 2005 Aug; 12(8):679-87. [Supported by Grant No. F32 HS00148.]

McCloskey LA, Lichter E, Ganz ML, et al. Intimate partner violence and patient screening across medical specialties. Acad Emerg Med 2005 Aug; 12(8):712-22. [Supported by Grant No. R01 HS11088.]

Gorelick MH, Alpern ER, Alessandrini EA. A system for grouping presenting complaints: the Pediatric Emergency Reason for Visit Clusters. Acad Emerg Med 2005 Aug; 12(8):723-31. [Supported by Grant No. R03 HS11359.]

Evaluation and the Health Professions
Cox ED, Smith MA, Bartell JM. Managing febrile infants: impact of literature recommendations published during a physician's residency. Eval Health Prof 2005 Sep; 28(3):328-48. [Supported by Grant No. K08 HS13183.]

Health Policy
Litaker D, Love TE. Health care resource allocation and individuals' health care needs: examining the degree of fit. Health Policy 2005 Aug; 73(2):183-93. [Supported by Grant No. T32 HS00059.]

Health Services Research
Clancy CM. The persistent challenge of avoidable hospitalizations. Health Serv Res 2005 Aug; 40(4):953-6. [Author is AHRQ Director.]

Mukamel DB, Spector WD, Bajorska A. Nursing home spending patterns in the 1990s: the role of nursing home competition and excess demand. Health Serv Res 2005 Aug; 40(4):1040-55. [Second author is researcher in AHRQ's Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets.]

Rein DB. A matter of classes: stratifying health care populations to produce better estimates of inpatient costs. Health Serv Res 2005 Aug; 40(4):1217-33. [Supported by Grant No. R03 HS13286.]

Newgard CD, Hui SH, Stamps-White P, et al. Institutional variability in a minimal risk, population-based study: recognizing policy barriers to health services research. Health Serv Res 2005 Aug; 40(4):1247-58. [Supported by Grant No. F32 HS00148.]

International Journal for Quality in Health Care
McNamara P. Quality-based payment: six case examples. Int J Qual Health Care 2005 Aug; 17(4):357-62. [Author is researcher in AHRQ's Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets.]

Journal of General Internal Medicine
Wilson IB, Rogers WH, Chang H, et al. Cost-related skipping of medications and other treatments among Medicare beneficiaries between 1998 and 2000: results of a national study. J Gen Intern Med 2005 Aug; 20(8):715-20. [Supported by Grant No. R01 HS09622.]

Jha AK, Perlin JB, Steinman MA, et al. Quality of ambulatory care for women and men in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System. J Gen Intern Med 2005 Aug; 20(8):762-5. [Supported by Grant No. 5 T43 HS0020-16.]

Journal of Health Economics
Domino ME, Huskamp H. Does provider variation matter to health plans? J Health Econ 2005 Jul; 24(4):795-813. [Supported by Grant No. P01 HS10803.]

New England Journal of Medicine
Paradise JL, Campbell TF, Dollaghan CA, et al. Developmental outcomes after early or delayed insertion of tympanostomy tubes. N Engl J Med2005 Aug 11; 353(6):576-86. [Supported by AHRQ under NICHD Grant Nos. HD26026 and HD42080.]

Quality and Safety in Health Care
Ursprung R, Gray JE, Edwards WH, et al. Real time patient safety audits: improving safety every day. Qual Saf Health Care 2005 Aug; 14(4):284-9. [Supported by Grant No. P20 HS11583.]

Social Science and Medicine
Waitzkin H, Jass-Aguilar R, Landwehr A, et al. Global trade, public health, and health services: stakeholders' constructions of the key issues. Soc Sci Med 2005 Sep; 61(5):893-906. [Supported by Grant No. 1 R03 HS13251.]

Gordon HS, Street RL Jr, Adam Kelly P (Kelly PA), et al. Physician-patient communication following invasive procedures: an analysis of post-angiogram consultations. Soc Sci Med 2005 Sep; 61(5):1015-25. [Supported by Grant No. P01 HS10876.]

Statistics in Medicine
Tchernis R, Horvitz-Lennon M, Normand SL. On the use of discrete choice models for causal inference. Stat Med 2005 Jul 30; 24(14):2197-212. [Supported by Grant No. P01 HS10803.]

AHRQ-Related Articles

American Family Physician
AHRQ finds weight-loss surgeries quadrupled over five-year period. Am Fam Physician 2005 Aug 1; 72(3):368. [Reviews AHRQ-authored study by Encinosa (researcher in AHRQ's Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets), et al. (Health Aff 2005).]

American Health Line
The uninsured: more than one-third of Latinos lack coverage. Am Health Line 2005 Aug 12; #4. [Reviews findings from new data from AHRQ's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).]

American Medical News
Adams D. Quality of care seen improving: researchers say greater use of evidence-based guidelines is needed. Am Med News 2005 Aug 8; 48(30):21. [Quotes Dwight McNeil (researcher in AHRQ's Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety) in commenting on AHRQ-funded article by Ma and Stafford (Arch Intern Med 2005).]

BNAs Health Plan and Provider Report
Effort to reduce surgical complications aimed at wound infections, other problems. BNA Health Plan Provider Rep 2005 Aug 3; 816. [Notes AHRQ's membership in the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP).]

Health Services Research
Wen M, Christakis NA. Neighborhood effects on posthospitalization mortality: a population-based cohort study of the elderly in Chicago. Health Serv Res 2005 Aug; 40(4):1108-1127. [Cites AHRQ-funded article by Ayanian, et al. (N Engl J Med 2002).]

Medicine on the Net
AHRQ tool inventories public health resources. Med Net2005 Aug; 11(8):14. [Describes AHRQ's Emergency Preparedness Resource Inventory Web tool.]

Modern Healthcare
Conn J. It's one step toward quality: many hurdles remain to establishing new patient-safety groups, which will use confidential provider data on medical errors. Mod Healthc 2005 Aug 8; 35(32):6-7. [Describes AHRQ taskings under new patient safety law.]

Quality and Safety in Health Care
Pronovost P, Sexton B. Assessing safety culture: guidelines and recommendations. Qual Saf Health Care 2005 Aug; 14(4):231-3. [Cites AHRQ technical report, Frontline Assessments of Healthcare Culture: Safety Attitudes, Questionnaire Norms and Psychometric Properties, 2004, which was supported by Grant No. 1 P01 HS1154401.]

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)/Put Prevention Into Practice (PPIP)-Related Articles

American Family Physician
Wattendorb DJ, Hadley DW. Family history: the three-generation pedigree. Am Fam Physician 2005 Aug 1; 72(3):441-8. [Describes and uses USPSTF recommendations based on family history, obtained from USPSTF recommendations on Aspirin for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Events, Screening for Colorectal Cancer, Chemoprevention of Breast Cancer, Screening for Breast Cancer, and Screening for Prostate Cancer (all in Ann Intern Med 2002); Counseling in Primary Care to Promote a Healthy Diet (Am J Prev Med 2003); Screening for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (Ann Intern Med 2005); Screening Adults for Lipid Disorders (Am J Prev Med 2001); Newborn Hearing Screening (Am Fam Physician 2001); and Screening for Pancreatic Cancer (accessed at AHRQ Web site).]

Journal Watch
Schwenk TL. Physicians enthused about annual check-ups. J Watch 2005 Aug 15; 25(16):125-6. [Abstracts and reviews article citing USPSTF recommendations in Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, 1996.]

Saitz R. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issues new guideline. J Watch 2005 Aug 15; 25(16):128. [Summarizes and comments on USPSTF recommendation, Screening for HIV (in Ann Intern Med 2005, and posted on AHRQ Web site.]

Evidence-based Practice Centers-Related Articles

ACOG Today
Routine episiotomy offers no maternal benefits. ACOG Today 2005 Aug; 49(7):7. [Summarizes findings from AHRQ's UNC-RTI EPC report on episiotomy (JAMA 2005).]

American Family Physician
Safeer RS, Keenan J. Health literacy: the gap between physicians and patients. Am Fam Physician 2005 Aug 1; 72(3):463-8. [Cites AHRQ Evidence Report/Technology Assessment, Literacy and Health Outcomes, 2004.]

Research By Others Using AHRQ Data or Products

Health Services Research
Fung CH, Elliott MN, Hays RD, et al. Patients' preferences for technical versus interpersonal quality when selecting a primary care physician. Health Serv Res 2005 Aug; 40(4):957-77. [Uses questions adapted from AHRQ's Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Surveys (CAHPS®).]

Volpp KG, Ketcham JD, Epstein AJ, et al. The effects of price competition and reduced subsidies for uncompensated care on hospital mortality. Health Serv Res 2005 Aug; 40(40):1056-77. [Uses recommendations from AHRQ's Quality Indicators report to identify six of the seven study conditions.]

Laditka JN, Laditka SB, Probst JC. More may be better: evidence of a negative relationship between physician supply and hospitalization for ambulatory care sensitive conditions. Health Serv Res 2005 Aug; 40(40):1148-66. [Uses data set of county ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACHS) rates compiled by AHRQ's Safety Monitoring Initiative.]

Pugh MJ, Fincke BG, Bierman AS, et al. Potentially inappropriate prescribing in elderly veterans: are we using the wrong drug, wrong dose, or wrong duration? J Am Geriatr Soc 2005 Aug; 53(8):1282-9. [Uses AHRQ's criteria for appropriate use based on AHRQ expert panel recommendations published by Zhan (researcher in AHRQ's Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety), et al. (JAMA 2001); third author is former AHRQ researcher.]


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