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Electronic Newsletter

April 28, 2011

AHRQ News and Numbers

Visits to physicians in hospital outpatient departments comprised about 5 percent of all ambulatory physician visits in the U.S. in 2008, yet accounted for more than 20 percent of the $309 billion spent on that type of care during the year. [Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, MEPS Statistical Brief #318: Expenses and Characteristics of Physician Visits in Different Ambulatory Care Settings, 2008]

Today's Headlines

AHRQ director participates in Kaiser Family Foundation Webcast on health disparities
New Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2011 User Comparative Database Report is available
Register for Webcast on TalkingQuality
Web broadcast of third symposium on patient-centered outcomes research methods set for June 6-7
Conference on International Lessons in Primary Care video is available
AHRQ’s effective health care program continuing education modules are available
Highlights from our most recent monthly newsletter
AHRQ in the professional literature

1. AHRQ Director Participates in Kaiser Family Foundation Webcast on Health Disparities

AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. participated in a live, interactive Webcast on issues relating to health and health care disparities in the United States hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The examined the new Department of Health and Human Services’ Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. In addition to Dr. Clancy, expert panelists on the Today's Topics in Health Disparities Webcast were Garth Graham, M.D., M.P.H., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, and Herbert Smitherman, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Dean of Community and Urban Health, and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine, and President and CEO, Health Centers Detroit Foundation, Inc. The program addressed the contents of the strategy and its timeline for implementation as well as its implications for providers. The panelists also discussed how the new strategy relates to other recently released HHS strategies including the National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care, the National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy, the Healthy People 2020 initiative and the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States. Panelists also considered what the strategy’s role as it relates to health reform implementation. Select to access the video .

2. New Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2011 User Comparative Database Report Is Available

Based on data from 1,032 U.S. hospitals, the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2011 User Comparative Database Report provides initial results that hospitals can use to compare their patient safety culture to other U.S. hospitals. In addition, the 2011 report presents results showing change over time for 512 hospitals that submitted data more than once. The report consists of a narrative description of the findings and four appendixes, presenting data by hospital characteristics and respondent characteristics for the database hospitals overall and separately for the 512 trending hospitals. Select to access the report.

3. Register for Webcast on TalkingQuality

AHRQ is sponsoring a free Webcast on TalkingQuality on May 11 at 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EDT. TalkingQuality is a comprehensive resource and guide for organizations that produce and disseminate reports to consumers on the quality of care provided by health care organizations (e.g., hospitals, health plans, medical groups, and nursing homes) and individual physicians. The Webcast titled, "Who Are You Talking to? New Insights into the Audience for Consumer Reports on Health Care Quality," will inform on ways to identify and explore the characteristics of people who seek health care quality information. The Webcast features Patrick McCabe, a partner at Getting Your Message Right (GYMR) Public Relations in Washington, DC, and Jeff Rabkin, President of Wowza in Minneapolis, MN. Select for more information and to register .

4. Web Broadcast of Third Symposium on Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Methods Set for June 6-7

The AHRQ Effective Health Care Program, through its DEcIDE Research Network, is sponsoring a third invitational symposium on research methods entitled, "Methods for Developing and Analyzing Clinically Rich Data for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research". This 2-day symposium will be held on June 6 and 7 at the AHRQ Conference Center. To expand access to the symposium proceedings, AHRQ will provide a live broadcast of the authors’ slides and audio presentations via the internet. If you are interested in viewing this broadcast select for more information and register. The symposium is a follow-up to the 2006 and 2009 AHRQ conferences on Methods in Comparative Effectiveness and Safety Research; papers presented at past conferences were published in the journal Medical Care. (Download these published papers or order free reprints by sending an e-mail to AHRQpubs@ahrq.hhs.gov pub#OM07-0085 and #OM10-0067.) The 2011 conference will focus on original research and the methodological insight or advances that arise from the conduct of the research. In addition, the symposium aims to provide a forum for scholarly deliberation of new and emerging research methods by scientists working in different disciplines and across settings. The symposium will feature presentations by authors whose abstracts were selected through a blinded peer-review process. In addition to the scientific presentations, keynote speeches will be given by John Concato, M.D., Yale School of Medicine and Louis Jacques, M.D., Director of Coverage & Analysis at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. For questions regarding the event, please contact Scott Smith at Scott.Smith@ahrq.hhs.gov.

5. Conference on International Lessons in Primary Care Video Is Available

AHRQ hosted a small conference on international lessons in primary care system design and development. Leading thinkers, researchers, and implementers from Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom joined a delegation from the United States led by Kevin Grumbach, Paul Grundy, and Kavita Patel to discuss models of care, system and community infrastructure, quality and safety, process of health system change and sustainability, and financing and incentives. The goal of the meeting was to propose a policy roadmap for the United States to revitalize its primary care system. The videos of the conference presentations and group discussions are available until April 30, 2012, on the AHRQ Web site. Later this year, AHRQ will publish a summary of the conference and individual papers from each of the seven participating delegations.

6. AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program Continuing Education Modules Are Available

AHRQ has recently released three new continuing medical education/continuing education (CME/CE) modules based on comparative effectiveness research reviews from its Effective Health Care Program. These modules are free of charge:

Comparative Effectiveness Research on Premixed Insulin Analogues for Type 2 Diabetes: Discussing Applications to Clinical Practice (accredited CME/CE for Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacists, Nurses, Case Managers, Medical Assistants, Dieticians, Certified Health Education Specialists)
AHRQ's Comparative Effectivenss Research on Lipid-Modifying Therapies (accredited CME/CE for Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacists, Nurses, Case Managers, Dieticians)
Comparative Effectiveness, Safety, and Indications of Insulin Analogues in Premixed Formulations for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes (accredited CME/CE for Physicians, Pharmacists, Nurses, Case Managers)

7. Highlights from Our Most Recent Monthly Newsletter

The April issue of Research Activities is available online. Key articles include:

Diet and medication adherence can reduce cardiovascular disease for patients with type 2 diabetes. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a serious but preventable complication of type 2 diabetes. Managing the numerous risk factors responsible for CVD in people with diabetes is an ongoing challenge for primary care clinicians. A new study found that the mean 10-year risk of CVD in this group was 16.2 percent. Yet nearly one-third of this total risk was attributable to factors such as high cholesterol, hypertension, and smoking, which can be modified with diet, exercise, smoking cessation, and medication adherence. For example, patients who reported good management of their diets and adherence to prescribed medication regimens lowered their mean risk of any cardiovascular event, such as a stroke or heart attack, by 44 and 39 percent, respectively. Select to read this article.