MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'agency for healthcare research'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:34:14 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4780485&cid=t_228736_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FU_8pduWA8bk%2F How soon might comparative effectiveness offer significant change? And which entities will guide these changes when they begin? Inside the nation’s capitol, CER has become something of a mantra among those hoping to drive down health care costs. But beyond the Beltway, CER appears not to be nearly as potent a concept, for now anyway. To gauge the extent to which CER is perceived, the National Pharmaceutical Council, a policy and research organization supported by pharma, surveyed 111 people from federal agencies, consumer and trade groups, insurers and academics, among others. And NPC found nearly 60 percent are “very familiar” with CER, but only 30 percent believe CER will lead to moderate improvements in health care decision-making in the next year. One reason for the lack... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4780485 Tue, 03 May 2011 13:36:25 +0100 4780485 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734248&cid=t_228736_112_f&fid=34971&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.drmalpani.com%2F2011%2F04%2Fconference-on-preventing-medical-errors.html Medical errors are a leading cause of preventable deaths. When a patient dies because of perceived medical negligence, hospitals get burnt down and doctors get beaten up. However, not all deaths are because of negligence - and not all errors can be prevented. In order to learn about what we can do to make sure that medical errors are minimised , India's first Patient Safety Workshop is being organised in Mumbai. This is the first conference in India which focuses on this key issue, which is usually misunderstood; and often ignored.I am especially excited about the fact that this workshop will be involving patients as well, as I deeply believe that well-informed patients can play a very important role in preventing medical errors !We've got some great speakers - please do come and join us !... The Patient's Doctor blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734248 Sun, 17 Apr 2011 08:55:00 +0100 4734248 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4723981&cid=t_228736_112_f&fid=34971&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.drmalpani.com%2F2011%2F04%2Fconference-on-preventing-medical-errors.html Medical errors are a leading cause of preventable deaths. When a patient dies because of perceived medical negligence, hospitals get burnt down and doctors get beaten up. However, not all deaths are because of negligence - and not all errors can be prevented. In order to learn about what we can do to make sure that medical errors are minimised , India's first Patient Safety Workshop is being organised in Mumbai. This is the first conference in India which focuses on this key issue, which is usually misunderstood; and often ignored.I am especially excited about the fact that this workshop will be involving patients as well, as I deeply believe that well-informed patients can play a very important role in preventing medical errors !We've got some great speakers - please do come and join us !... The Patient's Doctor blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4723981 Sun, 17 Apr 2011 08:55:00 +0100 4723981 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653331&cid=t_228736_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fahrq-healthcare-access-and-racial-disparities-not-improving%2F2011.03.29 According to American Medical News, the U.S. health system is demonstrating better performance on most measures of health care quality, but it’s failing to improve access to care or cut racial and ethnic health disparities, according to two reports released in February by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.  “Quality of care continues to improve, but at a slow rate,” said Ernest Moy, MD, leader of the team at AHRQ that produced the reports.  ”In contrast to that, focusing on issues of access to care, not much has changed.  Focusing on disparities in care, not much changed…Those are bigger problem areas than overall quality of care.”  Measures related to hospital quality are showing the most improvement.  For example, in 2005, just 42% of patients with heart att... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653331 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:00:25 +0100 4653331 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4642588&cid=t_228736_87_f&fid=38368&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FDisruptiveWomenInHealthCare%2F%7E3%2FeM2gzPgZi_c%2F Women experience differences in their health care services and outcomes. The fact sheet, Healthcare Quality and Disparities in Women: Selected Findings, summarizes key findings from the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports related to health care for women. Related posts:Update From Haiti: Despair Sets In And Women Consider Suicide The Society for Women’s Health Research: A Case Study of Advocacy for Women Disruptive Women on the Radio…with Real Women on Health (Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care) Disruptive Women in Health Care blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4642588 Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:42:36 +0100 4642588 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4527735&cid=t_228736_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Ftop-5-most-expensive-classes-of-prescription-drugs%2F2011.02.27 The top five therapeutic classes ranked by total expense are metabolic, central nervous system, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and psychotherapeutic, altogether totaling $155.7 billion, or two-thirds of prescription drug expenses by U.S. adults in 2008. Two-thirds of American adults use a prescription drug, totaling the $232.6 billion in expenses. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality compiled a statistical brief showing that drug classes varied widely in how they made the top five list. While 46 percent of adults with a prescribed drug expense bought a central nervous system agent, they are relatively cheaper on average. Gastrointestinal agents had the highest average expense per prescription ($133), or more than three times the average expense of the cheapest class, which wa... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4527735 Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:00:00 +0100 4527735 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4482759&cid=t_228736_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fthe-cost-of-treating-kidney-disease%2F2011.02.15 Medical spending to treat kidney disease totaled on average $25.3 billion annually from 2003 to 2007 (in 2007 dollars). Almost half of the expenditures ($12.7 billion) were spent on ambulatory visits. On average, 3.7 million adults (1.7 percent of the population) annually reported getting treatment for kidney disease, reports a statistical brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. During 2003-2007, for those ages 18 to 64, more than half of the total kidney disease expenditures were from ambulatory visits (53.1 percent) compared with about one third (30.3 percent) from inpatient visits. Among those age 65 and older, ambulatory visits accounted for 46 percent of the total kidney disease expenditures and hospital stays were 43 percent. Similar amounts were spent on prescri... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4482759 Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:00:00 +0100 4482759 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4172061&cid=t_228736_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Famia-board-%25e2%2580%259chold-harmless%25e2%2580%259d-clause-in-emr-contracts-is-unethical%2F2010.11.16 Last Friday the board of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) published a position paper in its journal saying that the “hold harmless” clause is unethical. One of the paper’s authors is Dr. Danny Sands, currently President of the Society for Participatory Medicine. I hope to write more about it this week, after attending the AMIA conference in DC, but here’s the basic issue: – For ages, makers of electronic medical record systems (EMR) have insisted on a “hold harmless” clause in the contracts a system buyer must sign. It says, in essence, that if any harm comes to anyone because of a system problem, the buyer (the hospital) will hold the manufacturer harmless. – In other words, if anything goes wrong with the system and someone gets hurt, it’s not... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4172061 Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:00:17 +0100 4172061 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3822920&cid=t_228736_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fwhat-a-68-chevy-impala-can-tell-us-about-primary-care%2F2010.08.04 When I was a much younger man I had a 1968 Chevy Impala. I loved its V-8 engine and spaciousness, but I paid a steep price for it. It consumed gas like a drunk on a binge. It was prone to breakdowns, usually in the left lane of a busy highway. Even as it consumed my limited financial resources, I couldn’t count on it to reliably get me to where I wanted to be. Yet I held onto it. One day, though, its transmission gave out, and I finally had to resign myself to buying a new, more reliable, more modern, and efficient vehicle. Yet to this day, I miss my clunker. I am reminded of this when I think about the state of primary care today. Many of us are attached to a traditional primary care model that may no longer be economically viable — for physicians, for patients, and for purcha... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3822920 Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:00:00 +0100 3822920 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3075765&cid=t_228736_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2Frr47beVX4Cs%2F The average cost for an American between 18 and 44 years of age was double the inflation-adjusted average for 1996, according to recently released data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ. To be precise, the cost went from $79 to $161. Prescription meds also accounted for what AHRA calls a “notably larger share of all health care expenses” for this age group in 2006 - it was 18 percent compared with 10 percent in 1996. This occurred even though the proportion who purchased prescription drugs dropped over the same period from 60 percent to 54 percent. For Americans age 18 to 44, health care expenses totaled $231 billion in 2006 or about $40 billion more than in 1996 after accounting for inflation; a smaller proportion incurred health care expenses in 200... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3075765 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:37:48 +0100 3075765 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2950732&cid=t_228736_87_f&fid=38368&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FDisruptiveWomenInHealthCare%2F%7E3%2F6M5n_DTj85w%2F As our population ages the importance of one’s ability to remain independent as long as possible will become even more important than it is today. One of the leading causes for the placement of a frail adult in a nursing home is due to non-adherence to medication regimes. In fact, 10 to 25 percent of hospital and nursing home admissions annually are because of an individual’s lack of adherence. The American Academy of Nursing working with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has published practice guidelines for nurses working with the older adults in the community on the management of their medication. There are many risk factors that affect the individual’s adherence from physical ability to depression and beyond. We know that nursing interventions and evidenced based tra... Disruptive Women in Health Care blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2950732 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:03:11 +0100 2950732 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2912187&cid=t_228736_87_f&fid=38368&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkaboutrx.org%2Fdocuments%2Fenhancing_prescription_medicine_adherence.pdf As Robin illustrated in her post, poor medication adherence results in poor health outcomes for millions of Americans, and costs billions of dollars in increased medical costs.  When three-quarters of Americans concede they don’t take their prescription medications as directed, we are faced with a public health problem that demands a broad, multi-faceted response. As the nation’s oldest consumer organization, the National Consumers League has long worked to improve medication safety, patient education, and consumer education in the health community.  With planning funds from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), NCL is spearheading a first-of-its-kind national education campaign to raise consumer awareness of the importance of good medication adherence.  As called f... Disruptive Women in Health Care blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2912187 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:18:55 +0100 2912187 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2772495&cid=t_228736_86_f&fid=38272&url=http%3A%2F%2Flaikaspoetnik.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F09%2F06%2Fgrey-literature-time-to-make-it-systematic%2F Guest author: Shamsha Damani (@shamsha) Grey literature is a term I first encountered in library school; I remember dubbing it “the-wild-goose-chase search” because it is time consuming, totally un-systematic, and a huge pain altogether. Things haven’t changed much in the grey literature arena, as I found out last week, when my boss asked me to help [...] (Source: Laika's MedLibLog) Laika's MedLibLog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2772495 Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:20:13 +0100 2772495 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1709802&cid=t_228736_117_f&fid=36026&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.healthtalk.com%2Fzimney%2Fnew-checklists-for-staying-healthy-over-50%2F Two new checklists designed to help people over the age of 50 learn what they can do to stay healthy have been released by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the AARP. They provide all the information that women and men over 50 need to monitor and maintain their health. The two checklists are reprinted below, but originals can be obtained from the AHQR Web site, under the headings Tools and Resources, Health Care Consumers. Women: Stay Healthy at 50+ Checklists for Your Health Use the checklists in this flyer to help you stay healthy at 50+. The checklists help answer your questions about what daily steps you can take for good health, whether you need medicines to prevent disease, and which screening tests you need and when to get them.Select to downlo... Dr. Z's Medical Report blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1709802 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:57:11 +0100 1709802 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1652557&cid=t_228736_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F344662743%2F The increase amounted to roughly 10 percent, and that occurred in a year in which new and controversial Black Box warnings were added to the labeling on the medications. The data was just released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit of the US Health and Human Services Department. Those warnings sparked a debate over whether some doctors and patients were being scared away from useful drugs and, therefore, causing an increase in suicides. This contention then prompted an FDA official to say the warnings may have to be revisited if federal data yields such an increase, although the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has yet to issue more recent numbers. (Back story). The AHRQ found that, in 2002, there were 154.1 million antidepressant prescription purchases ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1652557 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:40:45 +0100 1652557 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1543927&cid=t_228736_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F319928034%2F Most likely, you will not find this surprising. In any event, the use of cholesterol-lowering pills - otherwise known as statins - rose by 156 percent between 2000 and 2005, according to the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The number of people obtaining a prescription for a statin nearly doubled, from 15.8 milllion to 29.7 million. Looked at another way, the number of outpatient scrips rose to nearly 174 million from about 90 million. Along with the usage, the register rang innumerable times - spending jumped during that period to $19.7 billion from $7.7 billion. Each individual spent $484 a year, on average, to lower their cholesterol in 2000, and that rose to $661 by 2005. Although the AHRQ report doesn’t look at the past three years, the individual spending may hav... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1543927 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:13:13 +0100 1543927 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=876182&cid=t_228736_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F157638103%2F The agencies will collaborate in what they’re calling ‘the most comprehensive study to date’ of the potential for increased risk of heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problems associated with the widely used ADHD meds. Researchers supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the FDA will examine the clinical data of about 500,000 children and adults. The move comes after the FDA last February issued warnings about cardiovascular and psychiatric side effects associated with Adderall, Strattera, Ritalin and Concerta, among others. ADHD meds can increase heart rate and blood pressure, prompting concerns increased cardiac risks. Moreover, the risks may be different for adults and children, but more evidence is needed about the long-term effects,... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=876182 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:18:27 +0100 876182