Panel questions 'VBAC bans,' advocates expanded delivery options for women Mar 11, 2010
The systematic review was prepared through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) program, by the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center. The EPCs develop evidence reports and technology assessments based on rigorous, comprehensive syntheses and analyses of the scientific literature, emphasizing explicit and detailed documentation of methods, rationale, and assumptions. (EurekAlert!)
DVT: Leg pain can signal deadly blood clot Mar 10, 2010
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is issuing a 12-page booklet to help consumers tell if they're at risk for DVTs and what to do and a 60-page DVT treatment-and-prevention guide for doctors and hospitals. As a prevention incentive, starting Oct. 1 Medicare will withhold payment from hospitals when patients develop the clots after knee- or hip-replacement surgery. (USA Today -- News)
How to find health care bargains Mar 9, 2010
C-sections are significantly more expensive than vaginal births: $4,500 instead of $2,600, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research And Quality. If all hospitals had the same C-section rate as Intermountain, the country would save about $2 billion in hospital and doctor costs, according to an analysis done for CNN by Andrew Rubin, vice president for clinical affairs at New York University Langone Medical Center in Manhattan. (CNN -- Health)
Author: Hospitals must learn from errors, prevent infections Mar 1, 2010
He is now working with hospitals in every state to implement his program, with funding from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Pronovost says patients should be able to compare hospitals' infection rates; however, relatively few hospitals even track them. (USA Today -- News)
Staying abreast of cancer Feb 13, 2010
The task force is an advisory committee funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The recommendations given by the task force are used by primary care physicians and health care agencies. (UCD Advocate, CO)
Panel calls for reducing colorectal cancer deaths by striking down barriers to screening Feb 5, 2010
The systematic review was prepared through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) program, by the RTI International-University of the North Carolina Evidence-based Practice Center. The EPCs develop evidence reports and technology assessments based on rigorous, comprehensive syntheses and analyses of the scientific literature, emphasizing explicit and detailed documentation of methods, rationale, and assumptions. (EurekAlert!)
Electronic Health Records Need Better Monitoring, Experts Urge Feb 4, 2010
A reporting system could be created under the new Patient Safety Organizational Statute utilizing Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reporting formats. 2. (Science Daily)
HHS budget highlights IT initiatives Feb 4, 2010
Among the IT initiatives highlighted by HHS officials is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' plan to receive $110 million in new funding for a new, comprehensive Health Care Data Improvement Initiative, according to an " document released Feb. 1. The goal is to transform CMS data environment from one focused primarily on claims processing to one also focused on state-of-the-art data analysis and information sharing, the budget document states. The money will contribute to... (FCW.com)
Wait another year for patient safety data, GAO says Feb 3, 2010
Nearly five years after Congress passed a law mandating that data be collected about medical errors that affect patient safety, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is another year away from receiving any data, according from the Government Accountability Office. Under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, AHRQ was told to set up patient safety organizations to collect data about medical errors from healthcare providers. (FCW.com)
Most Adults Misunderstand Standard Warnings on Prescriptions Jan 27, 2010
The study was funded by Target Corp. and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Email or share this story. (Science Daily)
Traffic Crashes Send 3.5 Million to ERs Jan 16, 2010
About 85 percent (3 million) of the patients were treated and released, 321,000 were admitted or transferred to another acute care hospital for inpatient care, and about 8,000 patients died in the emergency department, according to the latest News and Numbers, released Wednesday by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality ... SOURCE: U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, news release, Jan. 13, 2010. (MEDLINEplus)
Needle Biopsy Works Well in Diagnosing Breast Cancer Jan 10, 2010
The U.S. government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality commissioned and funded the study. Biopsies are only done after other tests, such as a mammogram, suggest that breast cancer might be present. (MEDLINEplus)
Adding Drug Doesn't Help Control Blood Pressure Jan 10, 2010
Results of the study, funded by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, were published in the Oct. 20 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine ... SOURCES: Jean Slutsky, MSPH, director, U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Center for Outcomes and Evidence, Bethesda Md. (MEDLINEplus)
Report Questions Value of Family Health History Jan 10, 2010
The study was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, 2009. (MEDLINEplus)
A Third of Americans Die in Hospitals, Study Finds Jan 10, 2010
The single biggest cause of hospital death was septicemia, an overwhelming infection of the blood, which killed 15 percent of patients, the team at the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found. Eight percent died of respiratory failure, 6 percent died of stroke and 5 percent had fatal heart attacks in the hospital, according to the report, available at http://www. (MEDLINEplus)
