News and Updates for Healthcare Professionals

Opioid prescribing in the United States is decreasing, however, the opioid epidemic is continuing at an uncontrollable rate. Available data show a significant number of opioid deaths, primarily associated with illicit fentanyl use.

How often do diagnostic errors happen in adult patients who are transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) or die in the hospital, what causes the errors, and what are the associated harms?

Diabetes is a complex, chronic condition requiring continuous medical care with multifactorial risk-reduction strategies beyond glycemic management.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the quality of healthcare for all Americans. Providing high-quality care means providing safe, effective, and individualized care to meet the consumer’s desires but also accomplished promptly, efficiently, and equitably.

The American Heart Association (AHA), in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, annually reports the most up-to-date statistics related to heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular risk factors, including core health behaviors (smoking, physical activity, nutrition, sleep, and obesity) and health factors (cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose control, and metabolic syndrome) that contribute to cardiovascular health.

In 2020, 54 million US adults with chronic pain managed their symptoms with a mix of medication and nonpharmacologic therapies but one in four relied on medication alone, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show.

HAMBURG, Germany – Use of some antibiotic and antipsychotic drugs increases the risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) among people with type 2 diabetes who do not have a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD), shows the first such analysis of real-world, primary care data.

Roughly 2% of prescriptions to older patients appear to be inappropriate — but the figure does not appear to differ between physicians and nurse practitioners, according to a study published last month in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The American Heart Association (AHA) has unveiled a new risk calculator for cardiovascular disease (CVD) designed to capture more helpful, accurate evaluations of a patient’s risks than ever before. The announcement comes just one day before AHA’s annual Scientific Sessions meeting, AHA 23, kicks off in Philadelphia.

The American Heart Association has defined a new medical condition that reflects a strong link between obesity, diabetes, heart and kidney disease. The goal is to recognize the condition known as cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome or CKM. Goal is to achieve an earlier diagnosis and treatment for persons at risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.

Since 1980, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) have translated scientific evidence into clinical practice guidelines with recommendations to improve cardiovascular health. These guidelines, which are based on systematic methods to evaluate and classify evidence, provide a foundation for the delivery of quality cardiovascular care.

With recent data demonstrating that lecanemab treatment can slow cognitive and functional decline in early symptomatic Alzheimer disease (AD), it is widely anticipated that this drug and potentially other monoclonal antibody infusions targeting amyloid-β protein will imminently be realistic options for some patients with AD.

The 2023 edition of our list features many first-time topics, and emphasis is on potential risks that could have the biggest impact on patients. The number one topic on this year’s lists has been steadily growing and was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: the pediatric mental health crisis.

People at high risk for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), such as those with type 2 diabetes or medically complicated obesity, should be screened for advanced fibrosis, says new guidance from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Pain is one of the most common reasons adults seek medical care in the United States. Acute pain, a nearly universal experience, is a physiologic response to noxious stimuli that can become pathologic.

Why CVD Risk Calculation Is So Important?
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death for men and women across most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. The problem is immense: nearly two out of every three Americans will develop CVD in their lifetime and more than 600,000 Americans die from heart disease each year – accounting for one in every four deaths nationwide.

Everyone should receive safe and effective pain care. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) understands that treating patients living with pain can be complex and that treatment is highly individualized.

NIH-funded clinical trial underscores need for better treatments for deadly condition.

NIH findings may provide early clues about increased risks for advanced biological aging and premature death.

In the last of four blog posts on the challenges of advancing healthcare quality, members of AHRQ’s National Advisory Council highlight that little is known about the current quality of hospice care and how it varies across hospice programs. The authors assert that, as the population ages and older Americans continue to rely on hospice for their end-of-life care, there needs to be a call to action across all federal healthcare agencies, ensuring patients and their loved ones receive the quality of care they need. While hospice care outcome measures should not be overly complex, they must be actionable, applicable, and meaningful to patients and caregivers. Access the blog post, as well as a previous overview blog by AHRQ Director Robert Otto Valdez, Ph.D., M.H.S.A.

New more aggressive targets for blood pressure and lipids are among the changes to the annual American Diabetes Association (ADA) Standards of Care in Diabetes — 2023.

Recommendations made by the USPSTF are independent of the U.S. government. They should not be construed as an official position of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) have released new guidelines for the diagnosis and management of patients presenting with aortic disease. The in-depth document, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, covers a variety of topics, including thoracic aortic disease, peripheral artery disease, shared decision-making and cardiac imaging.

For the 20th year, AHRQ is reporting on healthcare quality and disparities. The annual National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report is mandated by Congress to provide a comprehensive overview of the quality of healthcare received by the general U.S. population and disparities in care experienced by different racial and socioeconomic groups. The report is produced with the help of an Interagency Work Group led by AHRQ.

The American College of Cardiology has published a new guidance document focused on the treatment of patients who present with hyperlipidemia and multiple chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and atrial fibrillation:

On September 16^th, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published a Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register seeking public comment about comprehensive, longitudinal, person-centered care planning for people at risk for or living with Multiple Chronic Conditions (MCC). We encourage you or others in your organization to review the RFI and submit comments. We also encourage you to share this information with others in your network. Comments can be submitted until November 15, 2022.

Specifically, the RFI seeks comment on the current state of comprehensive, longitudinal, person-centered care planning for people at risk for or living with MCC across settings of care (e.g., health systems, primary care, home, and other ambulatory practices), including:

• Existing models of person-centered care planning, their current scale, and barriers and facilitators to implementation.
• Innovative models of care, approaches, promising strategies, and solutions in order for clinicians and practices to routinely engage in person-centered care planning.
• Evidence for effectiveness of strategies for implementation and delivery of person-centered care planning, their impact on improving health outcomes, as well as evidence on how to adapt, scale, and spread the intervention.

Questions about how to prescribe statins for primary prevention abound more than three decades after the drugs swept into clinical practice to become a first-line medical approach to cutting cardiovascular (CV) risk.

In 2021, an international expert group convened by the ADA published a consensus report on the clinical definition of “remission” in type 2 diabetes.

Findings support personalized public health interventions to help close gaps.

An additional $22.3 billion is spent nationally on HF-related medical services each year, with the total annual expenditure for adults with HF approaching $180 billion, according to an analysis of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data.