Evaluating Domestic Violence Programs
America's Hospitals: In Danger or Bouncing Back?
Web Conference, November 19-21, 2002
Can You Minimize Health Care Costs by Improving Patient Safety?
Web Conference, September 20, 30, and October 1, 2002
Health Care Costs: Why Do They Increase? What Can We Do?
Workshop Brief, May 21-23, 2001
Evidence Report/Technology Assessment: Number 95:
Training of Hospital Staff To Respond to a Mass Casualty Incident (Clinical Focus)
HCUPnet: Interactive Tool for National Hospital Statistics
Statistics and Research Notes Based on HCUP Data
Measuring Patient's Hospital Care Experiences: Development of a National Standard
Exploring a National Standard for Measuring Patients' Hospital Care Experiences: Meeting Summary
Inpatient Quality Indicators: Fact Sheet
Inpatient Quality Indicators: Software Download
Research Activities, May 2004:
Researchers find no adverse perinatal outcomes associated with respiratory hospitalizations of pregnant women during flu season
Doctors should target chronic disease and functioning among frail older patients to lower the risk of hospitalization
Greater HMO penetration in an area reduces the number of preventable hospitalizations
Research Activities, April 2004:
Researchers examine racial and ethnic disparities in emergency care
Research Activities, March 2004:
Hospital costs are higher for elderly Medicare patients with low functional status
Hospitalizations for work-related injuries and illnesses declined from 1997-1999, but charges increased
Many major teaching hospitals might not be able to offer adequate access to specialty care for uninsured patients
Research Activities, February 2004:
New study estimates potential savings gained by expanding use of beta-blockers in heart failure patients
Better education for children and parents could eliminate the need for many pediatric hospitalizations
Researchers identify measures of workflow that may help to explain and manage emergency department overcrowding
Hospital mergers, not consolidation of local hospitals into systems, result in cost savings
AHRQ researchers examine use of hospital, emergency, and outpatient care among patients with HIV disease
Research Activities, January 2004:
Premature birth increases infants' risk of hospitalization and complications from respiratory syncytial virus
Transfusion after hip fracture surgery reduces the risk of rehospitalization for older patients with significant anemia
Following an urban hospital closure, remaining hospitals operate more efficiently due to high admissions
Research Activities, December 2003:
Ethics consultations can help resolve conflicts that may prolong unwanted or nonbeneficial ICU treatments
Research Activities, November 2003:
Researchers examine the impact of hospital volume on length of stay, readmissions, and patient outcomes
Fewer Medicare patients hospitalized for heart failure died in the 1990s, but shorter hospital stays may be a problem
Research Activities, October 2003:
Nursing home facility characteristics and quality-of-care factors may contribute to unnecessary hospitalization of residents
Research Activities, September 2003:
Factors that predict rehospitalization of home health care patients should be targeted by home health providers
Hospital type and experience affect outcomes of children who undergo tracheotomy
Nearly one-third of hip fracture patients are readmitted to the hospital within 6 months, usually for nonsurgical problems
Heavy users of the ER are usually socioeconomically disadvantaged and have significant health problems
U.S. hospitals have become greatly overcrowded, resulting in overloaded ERs and diverted ambulances
Managed care plans rarely deny reimbursement for hospital care
Hospitals that increase their number of registered nurses increase their operating costs but do not decrease profits
Research Activities, August 2003:
Regionalization of invasive cardiac procedures may explain seeming underuse of coronary angiography at VA hospitals
Lengthening postpartum hospital stays to meet minimum Federal standards is cost effective
Later admission in labor and collaborative care increase spontaneous vaginal delivery in low-risk women
Research Activities, July 2003:
Use of rapid MRI instead of x-ray to detect rare cancer-related back pain in primary care patients may not be cost effective
Having more RMs on staff can decrease the odds of pneumonia and associated costs among hospitalized surgery patients
Half of hospital costs for diabetes patients are linked to the subset of patients with multiple hospitalizations
Declining payments for emergency care compromise the ability of EDs to provide emergency care to the uninsured
Research Activities, June 2003:
Patient safety problems in hospitalized children are substantial
Chemotherapy and radiation following surgery for colorectal cancer are underused, and use varies by hospital
Variations in hospitalization rates for nursing home residents may be due to facility and market characteristics
Research Activities, May 2003:
Medical errors affect 2 to 3 percent of hospitalized children and are more common in those with special medical needs
Both low- and high-risk patients fare better when they undergo cardiovascular procedures at high-volume hospitals
With outpatient breastfeeding support and a home visitor program, early postpartum discharge doesn't reduce breastfeeding
Better communication with parents of hospitalized children may be the best way to improve parental ratings of hospital care
Research Activities, April 2003:
Hospitalization of children for respiratory illness presents an opportunity to counsel their parents about smoking
Improvements are needed in meeting the spiritual care needs of hospitalized children and their families
Use of an ECG-based diagnostic tool in the ER can help predict cardiac arrest in heart attack patients
Use of intensive care for patients with severe pneumonia is common and expensive, but hospital ICU admission rates vary
Despite new critical care technologies, the proportion of Medicare spending on end-of-life care is not increasing
Malpractice pressure prompts unnecessary treatments and care costs without improving patient outcomes
Research Activities, March 2003:
Imaging of coronary blood flow improves ED triage decisions for patients who have symptoms of acute cardiac ischemia
Research Activities, February 2003:
Higher primary care density is associated with fewer preventable hospital admissions
Studies focus on the quality of hospital emergency care
Research Activities, January 2003:
Study in large HMO found that infants discharged 1 day after birth fared as well as those with longer hospital stays
Patients with hip fracture who leave the hospital too soon are at risk for worse outcomes
Among children undergoing heart surgery, girls are far more likely than boys to die in the hospital
Patients who are dissatisfied with their usual source of care may seek costly nonurgent care in the emergency department
Research Activities, December 2002:
High-risk cardiovascular procedures, but not cancer operations, are becoming safer
Referring high-risk surgeries to high-volume hospitals may save lives but not money
Published reports of in-hospital deaths for certain conditions may not accurately portray outcomes of hospital care
Research Activities, October 2002:
AHRQ data show rising hospital charges, falling hospital stays
Research Activities, September 2002:
America uses more neonatal intensive care than other developed nations, but infant survival is not consistently better
Changes in Medicaid reimbursement have led to increased ER visits by adults to treat emergency dental problems
Research Activities, August 2002:
Fewer registered nurses in hospitals linked to more cases of postoperative pneumonia
Both hospital characteristics and board certification of anesthesiologists affect patient outcomes
Researchers examine regionalization and use of expensive health technologies in neonatal intensive care
Research Activities, July 2002:
New computerized decision aids improve ED triage of chest pain patients
Fee-for-service Medicare plans offer better quality care than Medicare HMO plans, but costs are higher
Research Activities, June 2002:
New analysis confirms a direct link between nurse staffing and patient complications and deaths in hospitals
Research Activities, May 2002:
Merging hospitals in the early 1990s focused mainly on reducing nursing hours and less on converting to new service areas
Research Activities, April 2002:
Nationwide study confirms that older patients who need certain high-risk surgeries fare better in more experienced hospitals
Referring children who need cardiac surgery to high-volume regional hospitals reduces deaths but increases travel distance
Research Activities, March 2002:
Hospital use and mortality rates for people with AIDS vary substantially by race/ethnicity and location
Research Activities, February 2002:
Consistent use of intensive care for extremely premature babies increases survival, but costs are high
Research Activities, January 2002:
NICUs very in their use of vasopressors to stabilize blood pressure in very low birthweight infants
Hospital emergency departments play a critical role in monitoring the Nation's health care safety net
Research Activities, December 2001:
Children with insulin-dependent diabetes are hospitalized three times more often than other children
Increasing public assistance for HIV-infected patients could lower hospital costs and increase work productivity
Research Activities, October 2001:
Outpatient mastectomies have increased over the last decade
When integrated into nursing home care, hospice care decreases hospitalizations for Medicare patients
Research Activities, September 2001:
Researchers examine hospital costs for CABG surgery
Research Activities, July 2001:
Hospitalization of the elderly for pneumonia and heart rhythm problems rose dramatically in the 1990s
Hospital mergers may save less than anticipated
Research Activities, June 2001:
Researchers develop new system for identifying successful hospital quality improvements
Increased HMO market penetration and local access to primary care doctors can reduce hospital admissions among children
Research Activities, May 2001:
Advance directives improve patient satisfaction but do not ensure compliance with end-of-life treatment wishes
Market pressures prompt children's hospitals to develop new relationships with doctors and other health care organizations
Critical pathways reduce postoperative hospital stays no more than local market forces
Research Activities, March 2001:
New HIV therapies have led to a decline in hospital costs for most patients
Maryland's EMS system has effectively managed mass casualty incidents involving 10 to 40 people
Research Activities, February 2001:
Certain clinical criteria can identify elderly trauma victims who don't need an x-ray to rule out cervical spine injury
Researchers present recent findings from the pneumonia PORT on hospital length of stay, symptoms, and outcomes
Hispanics undergo fewer inpatient procedures than non-Hispanic whites hospitalized for the same conditions
Hospitalizations of the elderly for bloodstream infections rose sharply in the early to mid-1990s
Research Activities, January 2001:
Increasing postpartum hospital stays may reduce readmission of newborns twice as much as previously thought
Acquisition of local nonprofit hospitals by regional hospital systems may weaken community control of local hospital pricing
Primary care physicians generally have a positive view of hospitalists when their use is not mandatory
Research Activities, September 2000:
Using a simple set of clinical criteria can reduce unnecessary cervical spine x-rays in patients with blunt trauma
Hospital grades on quality-of-care report cards may not truly reflect actual quality at a specific hospital
Research Activities, July 2000:
Researchers examine use of emergency medical services and hospitalization for children with special needs
Research Activities, June 2000:
Payer status appears to have a strong influence on hospital management of patients with heart attack
Periodic health exams tend to reduce ER visits and preventable hospitalizations
Hospitals often form alliances with physicians when the number of HMOs in an area increases
Research Activities, May 2000:
Differences in
hospital admission rates between managed care and other insurers leveling
off
Research Activities, February 2000:
Hospital data can
be used to track the impact of the State Children's Health Insurance
Program
Research Activities, January 2000:
Nonclinical factors
affect length of hospital stay after coronary artery bypass surgery
Substantial
variations found in spending by U.S. hospitals on quality improvement
activities