HSR Information Central

News

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

• HHS Launches New Health IT Blog - (Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S.)  - 24-NOV-2009    A blog that allows readers to learn more about health information technology (health IT) and provide a space for consumers, providers, policymakers, and technology experts to share their ideas and concerns regarding health IT.

• Considering the Employee Point of View: Perceptions of Job Satisfaction and Stress Among Nursing Staff in Nursing Homes - (Commonwealth Fund)  - 23-NOV-2009    Insufficient nursing staff is a major source of stress for workers in long-term care facilities, according to a survey of more than 1,200 nurses and nursing assistants. Despite this finding and other job stressors identified by the survey, overall job satisfaction among nurses is high.

• New ARHQ Comparative Effectiveness Clinician Guide: Lipid Modifying Agents - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - 20-NOV-2009    Clinicigan guides from The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Effective Health Care Program.

• Health Policy Fellowship in Comparative Effectiveness - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) US)  - 20-NOV-2009    The Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) and AHRQ are seeking applications for their 2010-2011 Health Policy Fellowship. The aim of the fellowship is to foster collaboration between SMDM members and AHRQ staff by fostering expertise and career development in clinical and comparative effectiveness research and translation. The position will allow the Fellow to conduct primary research and to participate in developmental and health care research activities related to the design and content of future AHRQ research and offers access to the data and other resources provided by AHRQ. The deadline for applications is January 29, 2010.

• Georgia's Medicaid/CHIP Care Management Program Saved up to $140 Million - (Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) US)  - 19-NOV-2009    Data from the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) found that the state's Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) care management organization (CMO) program saved Georgia $123 to $140 million over the past fiscal year. In

• Medicaid, CHIPS, and Next Steps: View Video from 11/13/09 Briefing - (Alliance for Health Reform US, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF))  - 18-NOV-2009    The Alliance for Health Reform and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation co-sponsored this briefing to examine the factors which influence children's coverage. Questions addressed include: What are the trends in private sector coverage? How well are the enrollment simplification and outreach tools that are included in this year's CHIP reauthorization helping to reach those children who are eligible but unenrolled? How much does a child's coverage depend on where he or she lives?

• NIH ANNOUNCES FIRST NATIONAL RESEARCH STUDY RECRUITMENT REGISTRY Nationwide Registry to "Match" Volunteers with Researchers - (National Institutes of Health (NIH))  - 16-NOV-2009    Individuals who want to participate in research studies now can connect online with researchers nationwide through the first disease-neutral, volunteer recruitment registry.

• AHRQ Announces Intent to Publish Grant and Contract Solicitations for Pediatric Healthcare Quality Measurement Research and Demonstration Projects - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - 16-NOV-2009    AHRQ will solicit applications for the development of new measures and the enhancement of existing measures, as well as the development and testing of methodological enhancements for measures and data collection. Priorities for the program are to be established through a public process involving multiple stakeholders, as required by law. Successful applicants will work on priority areas that correspond to their capacity for measure development and enhancement, as demonstrated in their applications. Successful applicants will also use a set of measure criteria to be determined through an HHS expert process that will be fully transparent to the public. The measure criteria will build on existing criteria for developing and endorsing healthcare quality measures. AHRQ anticipates grant and contract solicitations to be published in November 2009, with funding to commence in late federal fiscal year 2010.

• HHS Secretary Appoints Members to AHRQ National Advisory Council/Council Met 13 NOV - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - 12-NOV-2009    Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appointed seven new members to the National Advisory Council for AHRQ. The council provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary and the director of the agency on priorities for a national health services research agenda.

• Interventional radiology treatment for pulmonary embolism saves lives - (Society of Interventional Radiology US)  - 12-NOV-2009    Catheter-directed therapy or catheter-directed thrombolysis—an interventional radiology treatment that uses targeted image-guided drug delivery with specially designed catheters to dissolve dangerous blood clots in the lungs—saves lives and should be considered a first-line treatment option for massive pulmonary embolism, note researchers in the November Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.

• Trimming US health care spending will require new approaches, study finds - (RAND Corporation USA)  - 12-NOV-2009    Slowing the growth in U.S. health care spending will most likely require adoption of an array of strategies as well as an improved approach to moving promising strategies into widespread use, according to a new analysis by the RAND Corporation.

• 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))  - 09-NOV-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).

• 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.

• 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.

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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