| December 15, 2020, Issue #743 Private insurance was the most common expected payer in 2017 for emergency department treatment of injuries caused by motor vehicle accidents (52 percent). (Source: AHRQ, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #266: Overview of Emergency Department Visits Related to Injuries, by Cause of Injury, 2017.)  The agency's essential role in ensuring the effective use of telemedicine now and in the future is highlighted in a new blog post by members of AHRQ's National Advisory Council. The council provides advice and recommendations to AHRQ's director and to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on priorities for a national health services research agenda. In the blog post, members note that while telemedicine is not new, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly expanded its use and identified significant evidence gaps regarding the platform's quality and safety. The blog post's authors—Tina Hernandez-Boussard, Ph.D., M.P.H.; Karen Amstutz, M.D., M.B.A., FAAP; Peter Embi, M.D., M.S., FACP, FACMI; and Edmondo Robinson, M.D. M.B.A., M.S.—echo themes discussed in previous council meetings about the need for AHRQ to study factors that underlie telemedicine's clinical effectiveness, provider proficiency and patient satisfaction. Access the blog post. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address and select "AHRQ Views Blog." |  A system to improve coordination of radiology exams significantly reduced the number that were ordered but not scheduled at a large academic hospital, according to an AHRQ-funded study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology. Diagnostic imaging orders that are clinically necessary but not scheduled increase patient risks for delayed diagnoses. The new System for Coordinating Orders for Radiology Exams, or SCORE, was designed to track radiological exams ordered for acute, episodic or follow-up management. It helped reduce unscheduled orders at the urban, 793-bed hospital from nearly 9 percent to just over 4 percent. Of about 450 randomly selected orders that were resolved via SCORE, nearly 57 percent were canceled, 21 percent expired and were never renewed and 11 percent were performed. Access the abstract. |  A new data file added to AHRQ's Compendium of U.S. Health Systems provides updated information for 2018 on group practices and their affiliations with the nation's 637 health systems. The group practice data are publicly available so researchers and policymakers can identify group practices within health systems and then, linking to additional data sources, explore characteristics of the systems and their practices, such as cost and quality of care. In addition, the updated version of the file will allow users to assess trends in the organization and ownership of group practices within systems. The compendium was developed by AHRQ's Comparative Health System Performance Initiative, which studies how healthcare delivery systems promote evidence-based practices and patient-centered outcomes research in delivering care. Access the new group practice file. |  Registration is open for a webinar on Dec. 17 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. ET about the development, distribution and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine. The webinar is being offered by the National Nursing Home COVID Action Network, a free training initiative developed by AHRQ, the University of New Mexico's ECHO Institute and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Webinar attendees will learn about the results of recent clinical trials, updates on vaccine efficacy and unique considerations for application in long-term care settings. Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, will serve at the webinar's featured panelist. Continuing education credits will be available. | AHRQ's Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include: Review additional new publications in PSNet's current issue or access recent cases and commentaries in AHRQ's WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web). Registration is open for a webinar on Dec. 17 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET that introduces the new Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) clinician and group visit survey 4.0 (beta), which asks patients about their most recent ambulatory care visit. This new survey instrument will help providers understand and improve patients' experiences with telehealth visits. Speakers will discuss the purpose and use of the new survey, its development and testing, topics covered by the survey and ways it differs from the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey 3.0. | AHRQ in the Professional Literature Opioid-related overdose mortality in the era of fentanyl: monitoring a shifting epidemic by person, place, and time. Althoff KN, Leifheit KM, Park JN, et al. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020 Nov 1;216:108321. Epub 2020 Sep 25. Access the abstract on PubMed®. Portable automated surveillance of surgical site infections using natural language processing: development and validation. Bucher BT, Shi J, Ferraro JP, et al. Ann Surg. 2020 Oct;272(4):629-36. Access the abstract on PubMed®. Cancer surveillance and preventive services in a diverse sample of breast and colorectal cancer survivors. Glenn BA, Nonzee NJ, Hamilton AS, et al. J Cancer Surviv. 2020 Aug 14. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®. A Medicaid alternative payment model program In Oregon led to reduced volume of imaging services. Lindner S, Kaufman MR, Marino M, et al. Health Aff. 2020 Jul;39(7):1194-201. Access the abstract on PubMed®. Development of the uncertainty communication checklist: a patient-centered approach to patient discharge from the emergency department. Rising KL, Powell RE, Cameron KA, et al. Acad Med. 2020 Jul;95(7):1026-34. Access the abstract on PubMed®. Identification of postoperative complications using electronic health record data and machine learning. Bronsert M, Singh AB, Henderson WG, et al. Am J Surg. 2020 Jul;220(1):114-9. Epub 2019 Oct 9. Access the abstract on PubMed®. Building capacity for medication assisted treatment in rural primary care Practices: the IT MATTTRs practice team training. Zittleman L, Curcija K, Sutter C, et al. J Prim Care Community Health. 2020 Jan-Dec;11:2150132720953723. Epub 2020 Sep 11. Access the abstract on PubMed®. Assessment of disparities in digital access among Medicare beneficiaries and implications for telemedicine. Roberts ET, Mehrotra A. JAMA Intern Med. 2020 Oct;180(10):1386-9. Access the abstract on PubMed®. Contact Information For comments or questions about AHRQ News Now, contact Bruce Seeman, (301) 427-1998 or Bruce.Seeman@ahrq.hhs.gov. |
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