Journal Article
Health Information Technology for Ambulatory Care in Health Systems
The relatively low uptake of health IT functionalities important to care improvement suggests substantial opportunities for further improving adoption of ambulatory health IT even among the current EHR users.
Dec 18, 2020
Journal Article
Optimizing Health IT to Improve Health System Performance: A Work in Progress
We describe activities that health systems are pursuing to better leverage health IT to improve performance, in a qualitative thematic approach.
Dec 4, 2020
Journal Article
Distinguishing High-Performing Health Systems Using a Composite of Publicly Reported Measures of Ambulatory Care
A composite measure that uses publicly reported data can produce valid, reliable, and stable rankings of quality of ambulatory care.
Sep 23, 2020
Journal Article
Trends in the Use of Computerized Physician Order Entry by Health-System Affiliated Ambulatory Clinics in the United States, 2014–2016
Small practice size or not being part of a multi-hospital system are associated with lower use of computerized physician order entry. between 2014 and 2016. Less than optimal use in these environments may be harming patient outcomes.
Sep 11, 2020
Journal Article
Trends in the Use of Clinical Decision Support by Health System–Affiliated Ambulatory Clinics in the United States, 2014–2016
Use of clinical decision support (CDS) in ambulatory clinics is increasing but remains modest. The CDS function with the greatest use is basic medication screening, which increased from 52% of clinics nationally in 2014 to 61% in 2016.
2019
Journal Article
Researching the Appropriateness of Care in the Complementary and Integrative Health Professions: Part 5: Selection, Protection, and Abstraction
Of the records abstracted, many revealed incomplete provider documentation regarding the details of and rationale for care. Better documentation and more standardized record keeping would facilitate future research using patient records.
2019
Journal Article
What Are the Determinants of Health System Performance? Findings from the Literature and a Technical Expert Panel
This study is part of an ongoing effort to discover how and why some health systems in the United States are high performing and others are not.
Jan 28, 2020
Journal Article
How Are Medical Groups Identified as High Performing? The Effect of Different Approaches to Classification of Performance
To accurately identify "high-performing providers", a standard definition of high-performance and an agreed-upon approach to measurement are necessary.
Jul 24, 2019
Journal Article
Clinical Scenarios for Which Spinal Mobilization and Manipulation Are Considered by an Expert Panel to Be Inappropriate (and Appropriate) for Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain
This study used the RUAM to determine the appropriateness of spinal mobilization and manipulation for different types of patients with CLBP, and the key patient characteristics associated with appropriateness.
Jun 10, 2019
Journal Article
Level of Agreement on Health Information Technology Adoption and Use in Survey Data: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Ambulatory Clinics in 1 US State
Analyses of HIT survey findings should take into consideration the validity of the data used to develop estimates of prevalence and use.
Mar 22, 2019
Report
Determining the Appropriateness of Spinal Manipulation and Mobilization for Chronic Low Back Pain: Indications and Ratings by a Multidisciplinary Expert Panel
This report describes the results and methodology of convened panels of back pain experts who met to discuss and rate appropriateness of 450 indications for spinal manipulation and mobilization for chronic low back pain.
Jul 24, 2018
Report
Determining the Appropriateness of Spinal Manipulation and Mobilization for Chronic Neck Pain: Indications and Ratings by a Multidisciplinary Expert Panel
This report describes the results and methodology of convened panels of neck pain experts who met to discuss and rate appropriateness of 186 indications for spinal manipulation and mobilization for chronic neck pain.
Jul 24, 2018
Journal Article
Massage for Pain: An Evidence Map
More research is needed to establish confidence in the effect of massage therapy for pain.
2016
Journal Article
Electronic Health Record "Super-Users" and "Under-Users" in Ambulatory Care Practices
To achieve the broader benefits of electronic health records, health systems and policy makers need to identify and address barriers to full use of health IT functionalities.
May 18, 2018
Journal Article
Benefits and Harms of Cranial Electrical Stimulation for Chronic Painful Conditions, Depression, Anxiety, and Insomnia: A Systematic Review
There is insufficient evidence that cranial electronic stimulation has clinically important effects on fibromyalgia, headache, neuromusculoskeletal pain, joint pain, depression, or insomnia; low-strength evidence suggests a modest benefit for anxiety and depression.
Mar 22, 2018
Journal Article
Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Summary of Findings (SoF) Tables to Improve Understanding in the Presentation of Systematic Review Results: A Three-Arm, Randomised, Controlled, Non-Inferiority Trial
This study is an important first step in understanding how to present complex information to the multitude of systematic reviews users in an understandable and accessible way.
Mar 7, 2018
Journal Article
Diagnosis of Celiac Disease
This document summarizes results of a systematic review of tests used to diagnose celiac disease.
2016
Journal Article
Perioperative Management of Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients Undergoing Non-Cardiac Surgery Following Coronary Stent Placement: A Systematic Review
Current evidence regarding APT management in patients with cardiac stents undergoing NCS is insufficient to guide practice.
Feb 14, 2018
Journal Article
Recruiting Rural Healthcare Providers Today: A Systematic Review of Training Program Success and Determinants of Geographic Choices
Exposing medical students and residents to rural practice during their training is a promising approach to addressing the shortfall of providers in rural communities.
2017
Journal Article
What Defines a High-Performing Health System: A Systematic Review
Lack of a consistent definition of a high-performing health system severely hampers our ability to compare delivery systems based on performance.
Aug 15, 2017
Journal Article
Machine Learning Versus Standard Techniques for Updating Searches for Systematic Reviews: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study
Machine-learning methods can help decrease the effort involved in updating searches for systematic reviews.
Aug 1, 2017
Journal Article
Using the Electronic Health Record to Understand and Minimize Overuse
Electronic health records represent a key opportunity to address overuse and the high costs of care and to realize benefit from one of the country's major health care investments.
Jul 19, 2017
Journal Article
Economic Evaluation of Quality Improvement Interventions Designed to Prevent Hospital Readmission: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Many interventions reduce hospital readmissions, but not all generate cost savings, and many readmissions are in the patients' best interests and not avoidable.
Jul 12, 2017
Journal Article
Association of Spinal Manipulative Therapy With Clinical Benefit and Harm for Acute Low Back Pain: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
The use of spinal manipulative therapy to treat acute lower back pain was associated with modest improvement in pain and function in this systematic meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
May 19, 2017
Journal Article
A Systematic Review of Modifiable Risk Factors in the Progression of Multiple Sclerosis
MS progression was associated with low vitamin D levels, and smoking was associated with a more rapid decline in MS disability.
Mar 31, 2017
Journal Article
Strategies to Reduce Hospitalizations of Children with Medical Complexity Through Complex Care: Expert Perspectives
Children with medical complexity (CMC) account for disproportionately high hospital use. Researchers developed a structured, reproducible process for the creation of intervention strategies to reduce hospitalizations among CMC.
Mar 14, 2017
Journal Article
Diagnosis of Gout: A Systematic Review in Support of an American College of Physicians Clinical Practice Guideline
Various clinical algorithms show promise for providing at least a provisional gout diagnosis in patients who present with signs of early-stage disease; such patients are most likely to be seen in primary, urgent, and emergency care settings.
Nov 30, 2016
Journal Article
Management of Gout: A Systematic Review in Support of an American College of Physicians Clinical Practice Guideline
This systematic review found strong evidence for using colchicine, NSAIDs, and corticosteroids to relieve symptoms of acute gout attacks.
Nov 30, 2016
Journal Article
Hyaluronic Acid Injection Therapy for Osteoarthritis of the Knee: Concordant Efficacy and Conflicting Serious Adverse Events in Two Systematic Reviews
A lack of standards for reporting and synthesizing adverse events associated with common treatments can lead to conflicting conclusions about the balance of their benefits and harms.
Nov 28, 2016
Journal Article
Quality Improvement Interventions for Bloodstream Infections Related to Central Catheters: A Systematic Review
Interventions related to central venous catheters were, on average, associated with 57% fewer bloodstream infections among acute care patients and substantial savings to hospitals.
Nov 8, 2016
Journal Article
An Evidence Map of the Effect of Tai Chi on Health Outcomes
An evidence map based on 107 systematic reviews shows the focus and distribution of research on Tai Chi and its effects on health outcomes.
Aug 24, 2016
Journal Article
Surveillance and Identification of Signals for Updating Systematic Reviews: Implementation and Early Experience
The question of how to determine when a systematic review needs to be updated is of considerable importance. Developing and implementing a surveillance process for quickly identifying Comparative Effectiveness Reviews (CERs) in need of updating.
2013
Journal Article
The Quality of Care Provided to Women with Urinary Incontinence in 2 Clinical Settings
New quality indicators can help identify areas of suboptimal care for women with urinary incontinence.
Jul 25, 2016
Journal Article
What Is an Evidence Map? A Systematic Review of Published Evidence Maps and Their Definitions, Methods, and Products
We conducted a systematic review of publications that presented results with a process termed "evidence mapping" or included a figure called an "evidence map."
Feb 29, 2016
Journal Article
Mental Health Conditions Among Patients Seeking and Undergoing Bariatric Surgery: A Meta-Analysis
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of mental health conditions among bariatric surgery candidates and recipients.
Jan 21, 2016
Journal Article
Development of the Quality Improvement Minimum Quality Criteria Set (QI-MQCS): A Tool for Critical Appraisal of Quality Improvement Intervention Publications
Valid, reliable critical appraisal tools advance quality improvement (QI) intervention impacts by helping stakeholders identify higher quality studies.
Dec 23, 2015
Journal Article
The Minimum Quality Criteria Set (QI-MQCS) for Critical Appraisal: Advancing the Science of Quality Improvement
This meeting abstract documents expert panel deliberations intended to develop a critical appraisal instrument to promote identification, dissemination and implementation of findings from high quality improvement initiative evaluations.
Nov 2, 2015
Journal Article
Systematic Review of School-Based Interventions to Prevent Smoking for Girls
The purpose of this review is to study the effect of school-based interventions on smoking prevention for girls.
Sep 25, 2015
Journal Article
Evidence Map of Mindfulness
Many Veterans desire complementary and alternative medicine or integrative medicine modalities, both for treatment and for the promotion of wellness.
2014
Journal Article
Prevention of Wrong Site Surgery, Retained Surgical Items, and Surgical Fires: A Systematic Review
The VA National Center for Patient Safety has requested an evidence review to examine the prevalence and the root causes of wrong site surgery, retained surgical items, and surgical fires.
2013
Journal Article
Evidence Map of Acupuncture
Given the VA's desire to promote evidence-based practice, this evidence mapping project will help provide guidance to VA leadership about the distribution of evidence to inform policy and clinical decision making.
2014
Journal Article
Evidence Map of Tai Chi
This evidence map provides an overview of Tai Chi research and describes its volume and focus.
2014
Journal Article
Wrong-site Surgery, Retained Surgical Items, and Surgical Fires: A Systematic Review of Surgical Never Events
Serious, preventable surgical events, termed never events, continue to occur despite considerable patient safety efforts.
Jun 12, 2015
Journal Article
The Value of Health Information Technology: Filling the Knowledge Gap
Despite rapid growth in the rate of adoption of health information technology, and in the volume of evaluation studies, the existing knowledge base for the value of health IT is not advancing at a similar rate.
2014
Journal Article
Challenges in Assessing the Process-Outcome Link in Practice
Expanded use of clinical process-of-care measures to assess the quality of health care in the context of public reporting and pay-for-performance applications led to a desire to demonstrate its value in terms of improved patient outcomes.
Jan 19, 2015
Journal Article
Measuring the Quality of Care Provided to Women with Pelvic Organ Prolapse
Health care providers are increasingly being evaluated by the quality of care they provide. Our aim was to assess the feasibility of recently developed quality indicators (QIs) for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and identify possible deficits in care.
2015
Journal Article
Usage and Effect of Health Information Exchange: A Systematic Review
Health information exchange (HIE) is increasing in the United States, and it is incentivized by government policies. The authors systematically review and evaluate evidence of the use and effect of HIE on clinical care.
Dec 3, 2014
Journal Article
Well-child Care Clinical Practice Redesign for Serving Low-Income Children
Our objective was to conduct a rigorous, structured process to create a new model of well-child care (WCC) in collaboration with a multisite community health center and 2 small, independent practices serving predominantly Medicaid-insured children.
Jul 1, 2014
Journal Article
Reporting of Context and Implementation in Studies of Global Health Interventions: A Pilot Study
We performed a pilot study to assess the current state of reporting of context and implementation in studies of global health interventions.
May 1, 2014
Journal Article
Assessment of a Method to Detect Signals for Updating Systematic Reviews
Systematic reviews are a cornerstone of evidence-based medicine but are useful only if up-to-date.
Feb 1, 2014
Journal Article
Comparative Effectiveness of Pharmacologic Treatments to Prevent Fractures: An Updated Systematic Review
Osteoporosis is a major contributor to the propensity to fracture among older adults, and various pharmaceuticals are available to treat it.
2014
Journal Article
Health Information Technology: An Updated Systematic Review with a Focus on Meaningful Use
Incentives offered by the U.S. government have spurred marked increases in use of health information technology (IT).
2014
Journal Article
Quality-of-care Indicators for Pelvic Organ Prolapse: Development of an Infrastructure for Quality Assessment
We developed and rated 14 potential quality indicators for the care of women with POP. Once these QIs are tested for feasibility they can be used on a larger scale to measure and compare the care provided to women with prolapse in different clinical settings.
Dec 1, 2013
Journal Article
Risk of Bias: A Simulation Study of Power to Detect Study-Level Moderator Effects in Meta-Analysis
Although study characteristics, such as trial quality, may explain some proportion of heterogeneity across study results in meta-analyses, residual heterogeneity is a crucial factor in determining when associations between moderator variables and effect sizes can be statistically detected.
Nov 1, 2013
Journal Article
A Surveillance System to Assess the Need for Updating Systematic Reviews
This report describes the development and initial results of a surveillance system to assess produced by the Agency for Research and Quality (AHRQ) Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Program.
Nov 1, 2013
Journal Article
A Comparison of Frameworks Evaluating Evidence for Global Health Interventions
Evidence-based decision-making is critical to informing policy in global health interventions and programs.
Jul 1, 2013
Journal Article
Bariatric Surgery for Weight Loss and Glycemic Control in Nonmorbidly Obese Adults with Diabetes: A Systematic Review
Bariatric surgery is beneficial in persons with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or greater with obesity-related comorbidities. There is interest in using these procedures in persons with lower BMI and diabetes.
Jun 1, 2013
Journal Article
Bariatric Surgery and Nonsurgical Therapy in Adults with Metabolic Conditions and a Body Mass Index of 30.0 to 34.9 Kg/M²
Reviews the scientific evidence on efficacy, safety, and comparative effectiveness of various types of bariatric surgery for treating adult patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 to 34.9 kg/m² and diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).
May 31, 2013
Journal Article
Bariatric Surgery and Nonsurgical Therapy in Adults with Metabolic Conditions and a Body Mass Index of 30.0 to 34.9 Kg/M²: Executive Summary
Compares the weight loss and glucose control outcomes of bariatric surgery with nonsurgical therapy in the two RCTs that directly compared these in patients with diabetes for only those patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 to 34.9 kg/m2.
May 31, 2013
Journal Article
Inpatient Fall Prevention Programs as a Patient Safety Strategy: A Systematic Review
The purpose of this updated review is to reassess the benefits and harms of fall prevention programs in acute care settings and to identify factors associated with successful implementation of these programs.
Mar 1, 2013
Journal Article
Making Health Care Safer II: An Updated Critical Analysis of the Evidence for Patient Safety Practices
The goal of this project was to conduct a systematic literature review evaluating the evidence for a large number of patient safety practices.
Mar 1, 2013
Journal Article
Making Health Care Safer II: An Updated Critical Analysis of the Evidence for Patient Safety Practices : Executive Summary
The authors review patient safety practices for evidence of effectiveness, implementation, and adoption.
Mar 1, 2013
Journal Article
Nurse-Patient Ratios as a Patient Safety Strategy: A Systematic Review
A small percentage of patients die during hospitalization or shortly thereafter, and it is widely believed that more or better nursing care could prevent some of these deaths.
Mar 1, 2013
Journal Article
Redesign of an Electronic Clinical Reminder to Prevent Falls in Older Adults
The authors redesigned an electronic clinical reminder to improve identification and management of Veterans at high risk for falls, and piloted the reminder in 3 Veterans Health Administration community-based outpatient clinics.
Mar 1, 2013
Journal Article
Strategies to Improve Patient Safety: The Evidence Base Matures
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality commissioned a team to reexamine the evidence behind key patient safety strategies (PSSs).
Mar 1, 2013
Journal Article
The Top Patient Safety Strategies That Can Be Encouraged for Adoption Now
This paper describes the first phase of a three-phase effort to conduct an evidence-based assessment of patient safety strategies. The paper describes a framework for reviewing existing studies and prospectively evaluating new studies of the implementation of patient safety practices.
Mar 1, 2013
Journal Article
How Can We Recognize Continuous Quality Improvement?
Continuous quality improvement (CQI) methods are foundational approaches to improving healthcare delivery.
2014
Journal Article
Incorporating Evidence Review Into Quality Improvement: Meeting the Needs of Innovators
Achieving quality improvement (QI) aims often requires local innovation.
2013
Journal Article
Machine Learning Methods in Systematic Reviews: Identifying Quality Improvement Intervention Evaluations
Electronic searches typically yield far more citations than are relevant, and reviewers spend a substantial amount of time screening titles and abstracts to identify potential studies eligible for inclusion in a review.
Sep 1, 2012
Journal Article
A Pilot Study Using Machine Learning and Domain Knowledge to Facilitate Comparative Effectiveness Review Updating
Comparative effectiveness reviews need to be updated frequently to maintain their relevance.
Sep 1, 2012
Journal Article
A Pilot Study Using Machine Learning and Domain Knowledge to Facilitate Comparative Effectiveness Review Updating
Comparative effectiveness and systematic reviews require frequent and time-consuming updating. Results of earlier screening should be useful in reducing the effort needed to screen relevant articles.
2013
Journal Article
Developing Clinical Practice Guidelines: Target Audiences, Identifying Topics for Guidelines, Guideline Group Composition and Functioning and Conflicts of Interest
This study discusses the target audience(s) for guidelines, identifying topics for guidelines, guideline group composition and the processes by which guideline groups function, and managing conflicts of interest in guideline development.
Jul 1, 2012
Journal Article
Developing Clinical Practice Guidelines: Reviewing, Reporting, and Publishing Guidelines ; Updating Guidelines ; and the Emerging Issues of Enhancing Guideline Implementability and Accounting for Comorbid Conditions in Guidelines Development
Clinical practice guidelines are one of the foundations of efforts to improve health care.
Jul 1, 2012
Journal Article
Developing Clinical Practice Guidelines: Types of Evidence and Outcomes ; Values and Economics, Synthesis, Grading, and Presentation and Deriving Recommendations
Clinical practice guidelines are one of the foundations of efforts to improve healthcare.
Jul 1, 2012
Journal Article
Probiotics for the Prevention and Treatment of Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Evidence suggests that probiotics are associated with a reduction in antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD).
May 1, 2012
Draft
Review of the Evidence on Falls Prevention in Hospitals: Task 4 Final Report
Reviews and documents the existing evidence base for interventions to prevent falls in hospitals, provides an overview of the performance of existing tools with known measurement properties, and compiles available online resources.
Mar 2, 2012
Journal Article
Validity and Inter-Rater Reliability Testing of Quality Assessment Instruments
Numerous tools exist to assess methodological quality, or risk of bias in systematic reviews; however, few have undergone extensive reliability or validity testing.
Mar 1, 2012
Journal Article
Detection of Associations Between Trial Quality and Effect Sizes
The amount of additional heterogeneity in effect sizes is a crucial factor in determining when associations between quality and effect sizes can be detected.
2012
Journal Article
Testing the Risk of Bias Tool Showed Low Reliability Between Individual Reviewers and Across Consensus Assessments of Reviewer Pairs
To assess the reliability of the Cochrane Risk of Bias (ROB) tool between individual raters and across consensus agreements of pairs of reviewers and examine the impact of study-level factors on reliability.
2013
Journal Article
Conducting Online Expert Panels: A Feasibility and Experimental Replicability Study
It is feasible to conduct online expert panels intended to facilitate consensus finding among geographically distributed participants. The online approach may be practical for engaging large and diverse groups of stakeholders around a range of health services research topics and can help conduct multiple parallel panels to test for the reproducibility of panel conclusions.
Dec 1, 2011
Journal Article
Off-label Use of Atypical Antipsychotics: An Update
The authors performed a systematic review on the efficacy and safety of atypical antipsychotic drugs for use in conditions lacking FDA approval.
Sep 1, 2011
Journal Article
Efficacy and Comparative Effectiveness of Atypical Antipsychotic Medications for Off-Label Uses in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
A systematic review on the efficacy and safety of atypical antipsychotic medications for use in conditions lacking approval for labeling and marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Sep 1, 2011
Research Brief
Preventing Obesity and Its Consequences: Highlights of RAND Health Research
Summarizes key RAND studies on the causes of obesity, its economic and health consequences, and potential strategies for prevention, including work on health care costs, junk food, food deserts, school meals, and proximity of parks.
Aug 3, 2011
Journal Article
Does Better Quality of Care for Falls and Urinary Incontinence Result in Better Participant-Reported Outcomes?
Better quality of care for falls and urinary incontinence was associated with measurable improvement in participant-reported outcomes in less than 1 year.
Aug 1, 2011
Journal Article
Identifying Quality Improvement Intervention Publications - a Comparison of Electronic Search Strategies
This review of search strategies for quality improvement interventions found that consensus development for QI medical subject headings is urgently needed.
Aug 1, 2011
Journal Article
What Context Features Might Be Important Determinants of the Effectiveness of Patient Safety Practice Interventions?
Four domains of contextual features seem important for implementing patient safety practices: safety culture and teamwork, structural organization, external factors such as regulation, and availability of implementation and management tools.
Jul 1, 2011
Journal Article
Empirical Evidence of Associations Between Trial Quality and Effect Size
Examines the empirical evidence for associations between a set of proposed quality criteria and estimates of effect sizes in randomized controlled trials across a variety of clinical fields and to explore variables potentially influencing the association.
Jun 1, 2011
Journal Article
The Role of Theory in Research to Develop and Evaluate the Implementation of Patient Safety Practices
Describing the theoretical basis for understanding why a given patient safety intervention works would help efforts to generalize evaluation results from one context to another.
May 1, 2011
Draft
Review of the Current Literature on Outcome Measures Applicable to the Medicare Population for Use in a Quality Improvement Program: Project Deliverable 2a, 2b
Reviews measures that have been used to assess quality improvement programs in Medicare or equivalent populations.
Feb 11, 2011
Journal Article
Advancing the Science of Patient Safety
This article describes findings from a group of experts assembled to help improve the science of patient safety.
2011
Journal Article
A Framework for Classifying Patient Safety Practices: Results from an Expert Consensus Process
This article describes a theoretical framework, derived from the literature, for classifying diverse patient safety practices.
2011
Journal Article
How Does Context Affect Interventions to Improve Patient Safety? An Assessment of Evidence from Studies of Five Patient Safety Practices and Proposals for Research
This study concluded that little evidence exists about the influence of context on patient safety interventions, but found significant gaps in the research that should be addressed by future work.
2011
Journal Article
Identifying Continuous Quality Improvement Publications: What Makes an Improvement Intervention 'CQI'?
Continuous quality improvement (CQI) refers to a method for improving care, but no consensus definition exists. As a step toward improving CQI evidence reviews, this study identified CQI definitional features and tested an instrument for identifying articles with key features.
2011
Journal Article
Safety of Probiotics to Reduce Risk and Prevent or Treat Disease
The existing scientific literature does not adequately address questions about the safety of probiotics.
2011
Journal Article
Assessing the Evidence for Context-Sensitive Effectiveness and Safety of Patient Safety Practices: Developing Criteria
This report addresses the need for clearer understanding of the evidence base regarding the effectiveness and context-sensitivity of patient safety practices and presents recommendations for future research on this topic.
Dec 1, 2010
Draft
Prevalence, Natural History, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Food Allergy: A Systematic Review of the Evidence
Reviews the available evidence on the prevalence, diagnosis, management, and prevention of food allergies.
Aug 10, 2010
Journal Article
Identifying Quality Improvement Intervention Evaluations: Is Consensus Achievable?
The variety of quality improvement interventions has impeded the use of evidence review to advance quality improvement activities. Addressing this problem will require development of a generalizable framework for identifying evaluations of quality improvement initiatives.
Aug 1, 2010
Research Brief
Diagnosing and Treating Food Allergies: The State of the Research
A systematic review of food allergy research found that the prevalence of food allergy in the United States appears to be between 1 and 10 percent, but estimates remain questionable because of poor reliability of the tests used for allergy diagnosis.
Jun 8, 2010
Journal Article
Meta-analysis: Effect of Interactive Communication Between Collaborating Primary Care Physicians and Specialists
Assesses the effects of interactive communication between collaborating primary care physicians and key specialists on outcomes for patients receiving ambulatory care.
Feb 16, 2010
Journal Article
A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Proposed National Falls Prevention Program
This systematic review found that paying for a fall prevention program to increase the use of evidence-based interventions would be a cost-effective use of Medicare dollars.
2010
Journal Article
Diagnosing and Managing Common Food Allergies: A Systematic Review
This systematic review of scientific knowledge on food allergies found that evidence for the prevalence and management of food allergy is limited by a lack of uniform criteria for making a diagnosis.
2010
Journal Article
Diagnosis, Microbial Epidemiology, and Antibiotic Treatment of Acute Otitis Media in Children: A Systematic Review
Antibiotics are modestly more effective than no treatment for acute otitis media but cause adverse effects in 4% to 10% of children.
2010
Journal Article
Meta-analysis: Effect of Interactive Communication Between Collaborating Primary Care Physicians and Specialists
Assesses the effects of interactive communication between collaborating primary care physicians and key specialists on outcomes for patients receiving ambulatory care.
2010
Journal Article
Outcomes of Intravesical Botulinum Toxin for Idiopathic Overactive Bladder Symptoms: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Intravesical injection of botulinum toxin helps to manage overactive bladder symptoms in both men and women.
2010
Journal Article
A Systematic Review of Health Care Efficiency Measures
Review and characterize existing health care efficiency measures in order to facilitate a common understanding about the adequacy of these methods.
Jun 1, 2009
Journal Article
Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology: New Trends from the Literature
To understand what is new in health information technology (IT), the authors updated a systematic review of health IT with studies published during 2004-2007. From 4,683 titles, 179 met inclusion criteria. They identified a proliferation of patient-focused applications although little formal evaluation in this area; more descriptions of commercial electronic health records (EHRs) and health IT systems designed to run independently from EHRs; and proportionately fewer relevant studies from the health IT leaders. Accelerating the adoption of health IT will require greater public-private partnerships, new policies to address the misalignment of financial incentives, and a more robust evidence base regarding IT implementation.
2009
Journal Article
Efficiency and Its Measurement: What Practitioners Need to Know
There are important differences in perspective about the meaning of efficiency in health care and the appropriateness of measures.
2009
Journal Article
A Practice-Based Intervention to Improve Primary Care for Falls, Urinary Incontinence, and Dementia
Determine whether a practice-based intervention can improve care for falls, urinary incontinence, and cognitive impairment.
2009
Journal Article
Pregnancy and Fertility Following Bariatric Surgery: A Systematic Review
Rates of many adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes may be lower in women who become pregnant after having had bariatric surgery compared with rates in pregnant women who are obese; however, further data are needed from rigorously designed studies.
Nov 19, 2008
Research Brief
Delivery of Genomic Medicine for Common Chronic Adult Diseases
This fact sheet summarizes recommendations for health care workers, consumers, and the scientific community to prepare the health care system for genomic medicine for common chronic diseases.
Apr 2, 2008
Journal Article
Identifying, Categorizing, and Evaluating Health Care Efficiency Measures
Recognizing the importance of improving efficiency measurement of health care quality, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has sponsored this systematic review and analysis of available measures.
Apr 1, 2008
Research Brief
Modeling the Health and Medical Care Spending of the Future Elderly
This research brief summarizes studies showing that medical innovations will improve health and extend life but will likely increase Medicare spending; eliminating obesity and better prevention could save Medicare money and improve health.
Mar 9, 2008
Research Brief
Improving the Quality of Health Care for Older Adults
This research brief summarizes the results of Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elderly (ACOVE)-2, which measured the quality of care delivered to a group of older adults, and describes a recent revision of the quality measures, known as ACOVE-3.
Feb 6, 2008
Journal Article
Appropriateness Criteria for Coronary Angiography in Angina: Reliability and Validity
Evaluated criteria for tailoring the decision to perform coronary angiography in specific clinical scenarios are lacking. Appropriateness scores offer prognostically valid criteria for judging which specific patients might benefit from coronary angiography. Patient-specific appropriateness scores help pinpoint areas where judgments diverge and are a promising tool for making guidelines more effective.
2008
Journal Article
Delivery of Genomic Medicine for Common Chronic Adult Diseases: A Systematic Review
Synthesizes current information on genetic health services for common adult-onset conditions by examining studies that have addressed the outcomes, consumer information needs, delivery, and challenges in integrating these services.
2008
Journal Article
Evidence for Improving Palliative Care at the End of Life: A Systematic Review
Assesses evidence about interventions to improve palliative and end-of-life care.
2008
Journal Article
Finding Order in Heterogeneity: Types of Quality-Improvement Intervention Publications
Explores the heterogeneity in clinical quality improvement intervention publications. A classification framework was developed, and experts discussed unique issues and established standards relevant to each category to work toward synthesis.
2008
Journal Article
Systematic Review: The Evidence That Publishing Patient Care Performance Data Improves Quality of Care
Evidence suggests that publicly releasing performance data stimulates quality improvement activity at the hospital level. The effect of public reporting on effectiveness, safety, and patient-centeredness remains uncertain.
2008
Journal Article
Using Existing Systematic Reviews in Complex Systematic Reviews
Drawing from their collective experience, the authors outline a series of steps that can help reviewers reach reasoned decisions about the incorporation of existing systematic reviews and enumerate potential hazards to consider in doing so.
2008
Journal Article
Relationship Between Number of Medical Conditions and Quality of Care
There is concern that the methods used to measure the quality of care unfairly penalize providers caring for patients with multiple chronic conditions
Jun 14, 2007
Journal Article
Effect of Content and Format of Prescription Drug Labels on Readability, Understanding, and Medication Use: A Systematic Review
Evaluates the evidence regarding the optimal content and format of prescription labels that might improve readability, understanding, and medication use.
May 1, 2007
Journal Article
Antiretroviral (ARV) Drug Resistance in the Developing World
Describes prevalence of antiretroviral resistance in the developing world, focusing on treatment naive populations, resistance consequences of regimes to prevent mother-to-child transmission, and the relationship of medication adherence to resistance.
2007