AHRQ Electronic Newsletter, March 3, 2015, Issue #460

March 3, 2015, Issue #460 AHRQ Stats: Outpatient Surgery Of 14.4 million hospital visits involving surgery in 2012 across 28 states, just over half (53 percent) occurred in outpatient settings, while the remainder (47 percent) were inpatient. Nearly all hospital-based surgical procedures related to the eye (99 percent) and ear (92 percent) were outpatient. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #188: Surgeries in Hospital-Owned Outpatient Facilities, 2012.) Today's Headlines: AHRQ Research Conference Returns in 2015 AHRQ Issue Brief: Simulation Can Improve Safety Protocols for Hospital Teams Treating Ebola Patients AHRQ Study: Administrative Data Can Help Emergency Departments Avoid Missed Heart Attacks Register Now: March 17 CAHPS Webinar Will Highlight Lessons From Top-Performing Medicaid and CHIP Health Plans Register Now: March 18 Webinar on Using Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Decision Aids To Facilitate Shared Decision-Making AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange Highlights Medication Therapy Management AHRQ Research Conference Returns in 2015 AHRQ’s research conference, held annually from 2007 to 2012, will make a return engagement in 2015. The conference is scheduled for October 4–6 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Crystal City, Virginia. AcademyHealth will join AHRQ in hosting the conference, which will again bring together experts in health care research and policy to participate in sessions focused on addressing today’s challenges in improving quality, safety, access and value in health care. In addition, AHRQ and AcademyHealth will team with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to hold sessions October 6 as part of the AHRQ conference as well as PCORI’s first annual meeting October 6–8, which also will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott. These sessions will address key issues in dissemination and implementation of patient-centered outcomes research. Mark your calendars; information about submitting abstracts, registration, the conference agenda and more will be coming soon.  AHRQ Issue Brief: Simulation Can Improve Safety Protocols for Hospital Teams Treating Ebola Patients To help hospitals understand the value of simulation in caring for patients with high-risk, communicable diseases, AHRQ has developed a new issue brief, “Health Care Simulation to Advance Safety: Responding to Ebola and Other Threats.”  The brief describes simulation’s role in helping health care teams practice how to perform high-risk procedures correctly, identify breaches in safety protocols and reinforce high levels of performance. Simulation also can serve as an effective troubleshooter for organizations that think they’re prepared to safely treat high-risk patients. For example, simulation identified serious gaps in safety protocols at one major university hospital that was considered “ready” to treat Ebola patients. The issue brief, the first in a series about the AHRQ’s research priorities, also highlights lessons learned from AHRQ-funded grants on simulation and training and addresses ongoing challenges. AHRQ Study: Administrative Data Can Help Emergency Departments Avoid Missed Heart Attacks A new AHRQ-funded study found that hospital administrative data contain information that may help emergency department (ED) staff identify populations at risk of experiencing a missed diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Researchers used 2007 data from AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases and State Emergency Department Databases to evaluate missed diagnoses in 111,973 admitted adult patients. They found 993 missed diagnoses, or nearly 1 percent of all patients who were admitted with AMI. The patients with a missed diagnosis had visited an ED with chest pain or cardiac conditions, were released and were subsequently admitted for AMI within a week. Patients who were African American or younger had higher odds of having a missed AMI diagnosis. AHRQ’s Ernest Moy, M.D., is a coauthor of the article, “Missed Diagnoses of Acute Myocardial Infarction in the E.D.: Variation by Patient and Facility Characteristics,” published in the February issue of the journal Diagnosis. Register Now: March 17 CAHPS Webinar Will Highlight Lessons From Top-Performing Medicaid and CHIP Health Plans Register now for an AHRQ webinar March 17 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET to share success stories from Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans that have scored above the 80th percentile across all core measures in the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Health Plan Survey. Representatives from two top-performing health plans will share how they achieved high patient experience scores in the areas of access to care, communication with doctors, member information and customer service, and overall health plan ratings. Speakers include Stacia Cohen, R.N., M.B.A., from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Christopher Sellers, M.P.H., of ALL Kids in the Alabama Department of Public Health. CAHPS surveysask consumers about their experiences with health care. AHRQ’s CAHPS Database receives data voluntarily submitted by users who have administered either the CAHPS Health Plan Survey or the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey. For questions about the CAHPS program and its surveys contact the CAHPS User Network or phone 1-800-492-9261.Registration is open. Register Now: March 18 Webinar on Using Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Decision Aids To Facilitate Shared Decision-Making AHRQ is hosting a webinar March 18 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. ET on using patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) decision aids as part of shared decision-making. The webinar will address: Current National Committee for Quality Assurance requirements for patient-centered medical homes and accountable care organizations regarding shared decision-making to foster patient-centered care How patient decision aids based on PCOR can facilitate shared decision-making How AHRQ’s SHARE Approach helps providers learn key shared decision-making skills and using PCOR information tools Determination of continuing education credit through Professional Education Services Group is pending. Registration is open. AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange Highlights Medication Therapy Management The latest issue of the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange is the last in a series of three issues focused on the Innovations Exchange’s new initiative to expand scale up and spread efforts through learning communities. The featured innovations describe three programs that used pharmacists in various ways to provide medication therapy management services to patients in different settings. One of the featured profilesdescribes an innovation being adapted and implemented by participants of the Medication Therapy Management Learning Community. The featured QualityTools include a resource guide for payers, plans and providers about integrating comprehensive medication management services into patient-centered care, and a medication reconciliation toolkit for health care facilities. Along with medication therapy management, the Innovations Exchange’s learning community initiative includes information about emergency services and patient- and family-centered care. AHRQ in the Professional Literature Taliani CA, Bricker PL, Adelman AM, et al. Implementing effective care management in the patient-centered medical home. Am J Manag Care. 2013 Dec;19(12):957-64. Select to access the abstract on PubMed®. McGuire TG, Newhouse JP, Normand SL, et al. Assessing incentives for service-level selection in private health insurance exchanges. J Health Econ. 2014 May;35:47-63. Epub 2014 Feb 17. Select to access the abstract on PubMed®. Merlin JS, Walcott MM, Herbey I, et al. Qualitative investigation of a Brief Chronic Pain Screening tool in HIV-infected patients. AIDS Patient Care STDs. 2014 Apr;28(4):176-82. Epub 2014 Mar 12. Select to access the abstract on PubMed®. Arcia A, Bales ME, Brown W 3rd, et al. Method for the development of data visualizations for community members with varying levels of health literacy. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2013 Nov 16;2013:51-60. Select to access the abstract on PubMed®. Vyas A, Madhavan S, Kelly K, et al. Predictors of self-reported adherence to mammography screening guidelines in West Virginia women visiting a stationary facility. W V Med J. 2014 Mar-Apr;110(2):20-6. Select to access the abstracton PubMed®. Bayliss EA, Bonds DE, Boyd CM, et al. Understanding the context of health for persons with multiple chronic conditions: moving from what is the matter to what matters. Ann Fam Med. 2014 May-Jun;12(3):260-9. Select to access the abstracton PubMed®. Carayon P, Wetterneck TB, Rivera-Rodriguez AJ, et al. Human factors systems approach to healthcare quality and patient safety. Appl Ergon. 2014 Jan;45(1):14-25. Epub 2013 Jul 8. Select to access the abstract on PubMed®. Resnick MJ, Barocas DA, Morgans AK, et al. Contemporary prevalence of pretreatment urinary, sexual, hormonal, and bowel dysfunction: Defining the population at risk for harms of prostate cancer treatment.Cancer. 2014 Apr 15;120(8):1263-71. Epub 2014 Feb 7. Select to access theabstract on PubMed®. Contact Information Please address comments and questions about the AHRQ Electronic Newsletter to Jeff Hardy at: (301) 427-1802 or Jeff.Hardy@ahrq.hhs.gov.