Health Services Research

Assessing and Understanding Measurement Equivalence in Health Outcome Measures: Issues for Further Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry. C. McHorney, J. Fleishman, Medical Care 44(11, Supplement 3): November 2006, S205-S210. Presents an epilogue to a special journal issue devoted to issues of measurement equivalence in diverse populations, particularly those characterized by disparities. (AHRQ 07-R018)

Completeness of Cause of Injury Coding in Healthcare Administrative Databases in the United States, 2001. J. Coben, C. Steiner, M. Barrett, et al., Injury Prevention 12:2006, 199-201. Examines the completeness of external cause of injury coding (E-coding) within health care administrative databases in the United States and identifies factors that contribute to variations in E-code reporting across States. (AHRQ 07-R009)

Creating and Synthesizing Evidence with Decision Makers in Mind: Integrating Evidence from Clinical Trials and Other Study Designs. D. Atkins, Medical Care 45:2007, S16-S22. Examines the limitations of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in providing the information decisionmakers need to choose the best treatment for individual patients and explains how information from observational studies can supplement evidence from RCTs. (AHRQ 08-R012)

Enhancement of Claims Data to Improve Risk Adjustment of Hospital Mortality. M. Pine, H. Jordan, A. Elixhauser, et al., Journal of the American Medical Association 267(1): January 3, 2007, 71-76. Discusses the effect on risk-adjusted hospital mortality rates of adding "present" on admission codes and numerical laboratory data to administrative claims data. The goal is to distinguish between conditions that were present or not present on hospital admission. (AHRQ 07-R028)

Global Self-Rated Mental Health: Associations with Other Mental Health Measures and with Role Functioning. J. Fleishman, S. Zuvekas, Medical Care 45(7): July 2007, 602-609. Examines the association of self-reported mental health with other validated measures of mental health and role functioning to clarify the interpretation and usefulness of self-reported mental health data. (AHRQ 07-R069)

Health Limitations and Quality of Life Associated with Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases by Phase of Care. K. Yabroff, T. McNeel, W. Waldron, et al., Medical Care 45(7): July 2007, 629-637. Presents estimates of health limitations and health-related quality of life associated with cancer and other chronic conditions in a nationally representative sample within a phase-of-care (i.e., immediately after diagnosis, continuing care, last year of life, etc.) framework. (AHRQ 07-R079)

Identifying, Categorizing, and Evaluating Health Care Efficiency Measures. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, April 2008, 78 pp. Analyzes various measures of health care efficiency, including criteria for evaluating measures, examples of how measures can be applied, and details on the various sources examined for this report. (AHRQ 08-0030)

Improving Depiction of Benefits and Harms: Analyses of Studies of Well-Known Therapeutics and Review of High-Impact Medical Journals. A. Sedrakyan, C. Shih, Medical Care 45(10 Suppl 2): October 2007, S23-S28. Provides and discusses examples of how researchers present information about benefits and harms for well-known therapeutics when they publish their studies. (AHRQ 08-R013)

Increasing the Relevance of Research to Health Care Managers: Hospital CEO Imperatives for Improving Quality and Lowering Costs. J. Alexander, L. Hearld, H. Jiang, et al., Health Care Management Review 23(2): April-June 2007, 150-159. Examines how hospital leaders view key determinants of hospital quality and costs and the fundamental ways these leaders think about solutions to quality and cost issues in their organizations. (AHRQ 07-R077)

Interdisciplinary Research: The Role of Nursing Education. H. Hubbard, Journal of Professional Nursing 22(5): September/October 2006, 266-269. Explores the role of nursing faculty in doctoral nursing programs to inspire, support, and guide students into avenues of important clinical and health services research. (AHRQ 07-R006)

Intersections for Mutual Success in Nursing and Health Services Research. C. Clancy, B. Sharp, H. Hubbard, Nursing Outlook 53(6): November/December 2005, 263-265. Discusses issues of access to care/nursing workforce, health behavior, quality of care, cost/cost-effectiveness, and organization/delivery of care, and presents an agenda for nursing health services research. (AHRQ 06-R026)

On Modelling Response Propensity for Dwelling Unit (DU) Level Non-Response Adjustment in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). L. Wun, T. Ezzati-Rice, N. Diaz-Tena, et al., Statistics in Medicine 26:2007, 1875-1884. Summarizes research on comparing alternative approaches for modeling response propensity to compensate for dwelling unit (i.e., household level) non-response in the MEPS. (AHRQ 07-R9050)

An Opportunity for Health Services Research: The AHRQ Furthers Nursing Practice. H. Hubbard, B. Collins Sharp, American Journal of Nursing 104(11): November 2004, 89-91. Discusses examples of nursing-related research from AHRQ. (AHRQ 05-R016)

Organizational Climate: Implications for the Home Healthcare Workforce. P. Stone, D. Pastor, M. Harrison, Journal for Healthcare Quality 28(1): January/February 2006, 4-11. Examines how organizational climate has been defined and measured in health services research and identifies factors most important in home health care delivery. (AHRQ 06-R020)

Population-Based Trends in Volumes and Rates of Ambulatory Lumbar Spine Surgery. D. Gray, R. Deyo, W. Kreuter, et al., Spine 31(17):2006, 1957-1963. Examines the distribution of ambulatory lumbar spine surgery procedures being performed in the United States and estimates the impact on overall lumbar spine surgery rates. (AHRQ 07-R010)

So What? The Challenge of Doing "Need to Know" Versus "Would Like to Know" Research. R. Hughes, C. Clancy, Applied Nursing Research 20:2007, 210-213. Presents and discusses six considerations for prioritizing health research topics, including intended audience, information gaps, timing, sources of information, determinants of priority, and relevance. (AHRQ 08-R024)

Some Tips on Getting Funding for Health Services Research. R. Hughes, Applied Nursing Research 17(4): November 2004, 305-307. Advice on submitting clear and methodologically sound grant applications in order to be successful in receiving Federal research grants. (AHRQ 05-R035)

Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Hospital Inefficiency: A Review of Empirical Issues and an Assessment of Robustness. M. Rosko, R. Mutter, Medical Care Research and Review November 28, 2007, e-pub. Presents the results of an analysis of 20 stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) studies of hospital inefficiency in the United States and compares the use of SFA with previously used methods in hospital studies to determine the robustness of SFA in estimating cost inefficiency. (AHRQ 08-R021)

Study Designs for Effectiveness and Translation Research: Identifying Trade-offs. S. Mercer, B. DeVinney, L. Fine, et al, American Journal of Preventive Medicine 33(2):2007, 139-154. Summarizes the presentations and conclusions of a May 2004 symposium during which attendees weighed the strengths, limitations, and trade-offs between alternate designs for studying the effectiveness and translation of complex, multilevel health interventions. (AHRQ 07-R071)

Translating Research Into Nursing Practice: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. B. Collins Sharp, H. Hubbard, C. Jones, Nursing Outlook 53(1):2005, 46-48. Describes opportunities for nurse scientists, administrators, and clinicians to interact with AHRQ programs that fund and generate research while seeking to translate that research into practice and policy. (AHRQ 05-R040)

Understanding and Enhancing the Value of Hospital Discharge Data. J. Schoenman, J. Sutton, A. Elixhauser, D. Love, Medical Care Research and Review 64(4): August 2007, 449-468. Summarizes how hospital discharge data are used, identifies strengths and shortcomings, and presents suggestions for enhancing the usefulness of the data. (AHRQ 08-R002)

The Validity of ICD-9-CM Codes in Identifying Postoperative Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism. C. Zhan, J. Battles, Y. Chiang, et al., Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety 22(6): June 2007, 326-331. Examines the usefulness and validity of using ICD-9-CM codes to identify and study deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in postsurgical patients. (AHRQ 07-R074)

AHRQ Publications Order Form

Return to Contents
Proceed to Next Section