Research Activities

September 2011, No. 373

---

Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

The challenge of prioritizing care for complex patients
From the Director

Chronic Disease

Metformin just as effective as other medications for treating type 2 diabetes
Fewer heart bypass surgeries performed
Administrative data alone are insufficient to understand equivalence of two common blood pressure drugs
HIV/AIDS drugs have varied effects on lipid levels

Patient Safety and Quality

Surgical risk score does not work well for knee and hip replacement operations
Pay-for-performance project showed early gains but tapered in the fourth and fifth years

Emergency Medicine

Leaving the emergency department without being seen more likely at hospitals that serve more low-income patients
Patients with sepsis fare better when admitted via the emergency department rather than directly to the hospital

Disparities/Minority Health

Blacks who receive heart transplants have poorer survival than other racial groups
Minority status has no effect on patient outcomes in the intensive care unit
Minority patients with nonsmall-cell lung cancer are less likely to receive hospice services than whites
Diagnosing and treating depression gets better in nursing homes but some disparities remain

Health Care Costs and Financing

Where low-wage employees work, who their colleagues are, and spouses' wage level affect health insurance coverage and cost
Rising health care costs may have spurred more individuals to use complementary and alternative medicine
A program for laboratory monitoring of renin-angiotensin system drugs is cost-effective for certain high-risk patients
Uninsured patients respond well to paying a monthly retainer for primary care services
Children's underenrollment in State health insurance programs may be due in part to parents' confusion about coverage
Low- and middle-income children with public and private insurance have similar rates of unmet health care needs

Child/Adolescent Health

Clinicians cautioned about use of antihypertensive in children receiving kidney transplants who take tacrolimus
Friends' behavior and parental values influence rates of unprotected vaginal intercourse among teens
A standard enzyme assay may help screen for rickets in breast-fed infants not given vitamin D supplements
The quality of children's asthma care is affected by emergency department crowding

Health Information Technology

Computer system compares well with clinicians in assessing, but not treating children with asthma
Providers perceive e-prescribing as being very efficient

Elderly/Long-Term Care

Informal caregivers of older adults need more practical information to care for loved ones
Anxiety is common among older adults receiving care from aging services agencies

Agency News and Notes

Heart disease, cancer, and mental disease among the most costly conditions for women
Drug expenses for children with asthma more than doubled in 10 years
Arizona and Maryland see great drop in in-hospital deaths from pneumonia
How much employees pay for health care coverage depends on where they live

Announcements

Report and designer's guide outlines the role of human factors in home health care
New toolkit helps medical practices examine the impact of health IT on workflow
Brief outlines strategies to put patients at the center of primary care
AHRQ releases new CME/CE activities
2009 HCUP Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) now available
AHRQ releases MONAHRQ Version 2.0
New guides describe comparative effectiveness of therapies for autism, diabetes, and pain management of hip fracture
Data Points report on disease prevalence and Medicare reimbursement is available
HCUP Data Users' Workshop registration closing soon
AHRQ releases new series on closing the quality gap

Research Briefs

Research Briefs
Healthcare 411
Follow AHRQ news on Twitter

AHRQ Publication No. 11-RA012
Current as of September 2011

---

Internet Citation:

Research Activities Newsletter. September 2011, No. 373. AHRQ Publication No. 11-RA012. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/sep11/

---