HSR Information Central

News

News items 4 weeks and older are available on the News Archive Web page.

• Beta Version Available of ADePT Health Now Available - (World Bank)  - 07-NOV-2009    ADePT Health allows users to produce quickly and with a minimal risk of errors most tables that have become standard in applied health equity analysis. The tables emerge in a standardized format, and are based on a set of methods that are widely accepted in the literature. Through its standardized tables, ADePT Health facilitates comparisons of health equity over time within countries, and between countries. The software uses the methods outlined in "Analyzing Health Equity Using Household Survey Data: A Guide to Techniques and Their Implementation" by Owen O'Donnell, Eddy van Doorslaer, Adam Wagstaff and Magnus Lindelow, copies of which can be ordered online or downloaded for free at http://www.worldbank.org/analyzinghealthequity.

• 11/10/09, 1:30 EST, Free E-Seminar: ARRA and Beyond: Outcomes Driven Health Information Exchange - 05-NOV-2009    Join Mary Mosquera, Senior Editor of Government Health IT; Howard Croft, MD FACEP, Emergency Physician, Medical Staff President at Columbia St Mary's Hospital, Milwaukee, WI; and Edward Barthell, MD MS, Director, Microsoft Health Solutions Group, for a discussion on the future of connected health and how effective health information exchange can lead to improved quality and cost-effectiveness in care delivery.

• Report: Hospitals with High Proportion of Poor Patients Are Slow to Adopt Electronic Health Records - (Commonwealth Fund)  - 02-NOV-2009    U.S. hospitals that serve a high proportion of poor patients tend to lag behind in adopting electronic health records (EHRs), according to a Health Affairs report published Oct. 26 as a Web exclusive.

• Technical Assistance Conference Call (11/12/09) for Applications to AHRQ's Medical Liability and Patient Safety Funding Opportunity Announcements - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - 31-OCT-2009    On Thursday, November 12, 2009 from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Eastern Time, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will host a Technical Assistance (TA) conference call to provide an overview of AHRQ's new medical liability reform and patient safety funding opportunity announcements (FOAs).

• New Report Highlights How Health Insurance Reform Will Reduce Costs for Small Businesses - (Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S.)  - 29-OCT-2009    “Small businesses drive our economy and create jobs, but they are struggling as health care costs continue to rise,” Secretary Sebelius said. “The high cost of care is making it difficult or impossible for these businesses to offer care or grow their business. Health insurance reform will bring costs down and give small businesses the relief they need.”

• Lack of insurance may have figured in nearly 17,000 childhood deaths, study shows - 29-OCT-2009    Lack of health insurance might have led or contributed to nearly 17,000 deaths among hospitalized children in the United States in the span of less than two decades, according to research led by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

• Revised 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey patient file public use data set now available - (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC))  - 27-OCT-2009   

• VA Cyber Seminar, 11/2/09, 1:00 p.m. EDT, Measuring Veterans Health Services Use in VA and Medicare (Part 1) - (Health Services Research and Development Service, Veterans Administration (HSR&D))  - 26-OCT-2009    Free VIReC Database and Methods Seminar Presentation.

• AHRQ Call for Public Review: Draft Technology Assessment Report - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - 26-OCT-2009    This draft is entitled “Report on the Evidence Regarding Off-Label Indications for Targeted Therapies used in Cancer Treatment.” The document will be available for review from 9:00 AM on October 26, 2009 to 5:00 PM on November 9, 2009. If you have any questions, please contact ahrqtap@ahrq.hhs.gov.

• Members Don E. Detmer, Bernard Guyer, and Joseph P. Newhouse honored for outstanding service to the IOM - (Institute of Medicine (IOM))  - 23-OCT-2009   

• Sociologist David Mechanic receives IOM's Sarnat Prize in Mental Health; Others honored for outstanding service - (Institute of Medicine (IOM))  - 23-OCT-2009    The Institute of Medicine today awarded the 2009 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health to David Mechanic, University Professor and René Dubos Professor of Behavioral Sciences; and director, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. The Sarnat Prize, consisting of a medal and $20,000, was presented to Mechanic at IOM's annual meeting in Washington, DC. The Institute of Medicine honored today members Don E. Detmer, Bernard Guyer, and Joseph P. Newhouse for their outstanding service to the institution at the IOM's 39th annual meeting.

• Oct. Issue HSR Journal Focuses on Public Health Services and Systems Research - 23-OCT-2009    Special issue of HSR Journal focuss on Public Health Services and Systems Research. Access articles and commentary on this topic.

• High Blood Pressure Medicines Show Promise for Treating Heart Disease - 21-OCT-2009    Two medications commonly used to treat high blood pressure appear to be effective in treating a common type of heart disease known as stable ischemic heart disease, according to a new comparative effectiveness review funded by AHRQ. A version of the analysis was posted in the October 20 online version of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

• Health Impact Project Call for Proposals - (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF))  - 20-OCT-2009    The Health Impact Project is looking for proposals to demonstrate the effectiveness of HIAs and promote their incorporation into local, state, tribal, and federal decision-making. Government agencies, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations are encouraged to apply. Successful applicants will receive grants of $25,000 to $150,000.

• Illness often undiscovered and undertreated among the uninsured: Harvard study - 20-OCT-2009    A new study shows uninsured American adults with chronic illnesses like diabetes, high cholesterol or hypertension often go undiagnosed and undertreated, leading to an increased risk of costly, disabling and even lethal complications of their disease. The researchers, based at Harvard Medical School and the affiliated Cambridge Health Alliance, analyzed data on 15,976 US non-elderly adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2006.

• Experimental device that lowers blood pressure may be a cost effective treatment. - 19-OCT-2009    A study conducted by the University of Rochester Medical Center demonstrates that, for certain patient populations, an experimental device that lowers blood pressure may be a cost effective treatment. The implantable device, called Rheos, is in advanced stages of testing for individuals with drug resistant hypertension.

• Task Force finds insufficient evidence for screening for newborn jaundice to prevent a more serious chronic condition - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - 16-OCT-2009    According to a new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, there is insufficient evidence to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening infants for hyperbilirubinemia to prevent chronic bilirubin encephalopathy. Hyperbilirubinemia is a condition marked by a high level of bilirubin in the blood, which is often apparent as yellow-colored skin and eyes (jaundice). This recommendation and the accompanying summary of evidence will appear in the October issue of Pediatrics.

• Wrist fracture patients less likely to be evaluated for osteoporosis - 16-OCT-2009    A study published in the October 2009 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery suggests a disconnect between the way wrist-fracture patients and those with a spine or hip fracture are managed and evaluated. The study, conducted in 2007 among 97 percent of the women in Korea, reviewed the incidence of fractures around the hip, spine, and wrist in female patients age 50 and older and the prescription frequencies of bone density scans for osteoporosis, along with the use of medications for its treatment.

• NIDDK announces availability of more current kidney disease data - (National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH (NIDDK))  - 16-OCT-2009   

News Resources

• 6 Measures for New Zealand Primary Health Organizations Proposed - Researchers have come up with a set of criteria for assessing the effectiveness of PHOs during the next stage of Primary Health Care Strategy implementation. In a report published by Victoria University's Health Services Research Centre this week, researchers propose six questions to help form a review process between primary health organizations and district health boards when assessing local strategy implementation progress.

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