Research Activities

February 1998, No. 213

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Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

Medicare beneficiaries will be among the first to benefit from AHCPR's CAHPS® initiative

Departments

Managed Care/Market Forces
   Managed care plans affect care primarily through utilization review and discounted fees
   Coverage of new medical technology depends on the type of insurance plan and the circumstances
   AHCPR report shows businesses can negotiate with their health plans for both quality and lower costs

Hospital Care/Costs
   Making residents more aware of the costs for lab tests and x-rays does not change their test-ordering behavior
   Hospital complication rates and mortality rates may not correlate when severity of illness is taken into account
   Level of threat determines future course of rural hospitals

Clinical Decisionmaking
   Insulin therapy often does not achieve near-normal blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes
   Several office readings of blood pressure may be needed for accuracy
   Patient-physician partnership is the key to better management of osteoarthritis and other chronic diseases

Minority Health
   Despite greater risk factors, black men and women are only half as likely as whites to have heart attacks

Elderly/Long-term Care
   Effective treatment of geriatric urinary incontinence depends on proper assessment
   Characteristics of a nursing home's management team affect the likelihood it will adopt innovations

Outcomes/Effectiveness Research
   Clinical trial results may be markedly affected when small numbers of high-risk patients are included
   Southeast stroke belt has two to three times the rate of elevated blood pressure of other U.S. regions
   Health status questionnaire accurately assesses changes over time in quality of life after elective surgery

Health Care Delivery
   Patients' treatment preferences reflect the value they place on different health outcomes
   Doctors' counseling about reducing risky behaviors falls short of national goals

Use of Data/Medical Informatics
   Medical informatics conference explores cutting-edge technologies

AHCPR News and Notes
   AHCPR and Kaiser join forces to study mental health in managed care
   AHCPR recognizes contributions of peer reviewers

Announcements
   AHCPR announces second conference on evidence-based practice
   AHSR's 15th annual meeting scheduled for June 1998
   Agency seeks nominations for its National Advisory Council
   AHCPR funds new studies
   Final reports now available from NTIS

Research Briefs
   Response rates to mail surveys published in medical journals
   Institutional efforts to promote advance care planning in nursing homes: Challenges and opportunities
   Automated evidence-based critiquing of orders for abdominal radiographs: Impact on utilization and appropriateness
   The impact of socioeconomic status on health functioning as assessed by the SF-36 questionnaire: The Whitehall II study
   Quantitative synthesis in systematic reviews
   Plasma and erythrocyte zinc concentrations and their relationship to dietary zinc intake and zinc supplementation during pregnancy in low-income African-American women

AHCPR Publication No. 98-0014
Current as of February 1998

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Internet Citation:

Research Activities newsletter. February 1998, No. 213. AHCPR Publication No. 98-0014. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/feb98/

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