A Framework for Rigorous Qualitative Research as a Component of Mixed Method Rapid-Cycle Evaluation.

As federal, state, and local governments continue to test innovative approaches to health care delivery, the ability to produce timely and reliable evidence of what works and why it works is crucial. There is limited literature on methodological approaches to rapid-cycle qualitative research. The purpose of this article is to describe the advantages and limitations of a broadly applicable framework for in-depth qualitative analysis placed within a larger rapid-cycle, multisite, mixed-method evaluation.

Two Innovative Cancer Care Programs Have Potential to Reduce Utilization and Spending.

Background: Cancer patients often present to the emergency department (ED) and hospital for symptom management, but many of these visits are avoidable and costly.

Objective: We assessed the impact of 2 Health Care Innovation Awards that used an oncology medical home model [Community Oncology Medical Home (COME HOME)] or patient navigation model [Patient Care Connect Program (PCCP)] on utilization and spending.

Methods: Participants in COME HOME and PCCP models were matched to similar comparators using propensity scores.

Physician Engagement Strategies in Care Coordination: Findings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Health Care Innovation Awards Program.

Objective: To identify roles physicians assumed as part of new health care delivery models and related strategies that facilitated physician engagement across 21 Health Care Innovation Award (HCIA) programs.

Data Sources: Site-level in-depth interviews, conducted from 2014 to 2015 (N = 672) with program staff, leadership, and partners (including 95 physicians) and direct observations.

Study Design: NORC conducted a mixed-method evaluation, including two rounds of qualitative data collected via site visits and telephone interviews.

Public attitudes about health information technology, and its relationship to health care quality, costs, and privacy.

Objective: To understand Americans' attitudes concerning health information technology's (IT's) potential to improve health care and differences in those attitudes based on demographics and technological affinity.

Data Sources/study Setting: A random-digit-dial sample with known probability of selection for every household in the United States with a telephone, plus a supplemental sample of cell phone users. Telephone interviews were conducted from August 2009 through November 2009.

Measurement of the utilization of an installed electronic health record.

For the past decade, adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) has been proposed as one of the most viable approaches to improving the United States health care system. Although there is evidence that EHR adoption is slowly progressing, current methods of assessing adoption have yielded significant variance in estimates of EHR utilization. We conducted an environmental scan consisting of a review of the literature as well as a series of discussions with health center and health center network representatives and experts in the field to understand the current state of EHR adoption and use in the United States and assess the feasibility of developing a systematic approach to tracking EHR usage.

Advancing the ePrescribing research.

In 2006 CMS and AHRQ funded the National Resource Center for Health IT (NRC) to evaluate the findings from the 5 CMS ePrescribing (eRx) pilots. During this evaluation, the NRC identified research areas from: 1) questions left unanswered by the pilot contractors, 2) gaps in knowledge identified by the evaluation team and, 3) areas requiring additional industry experience. The research areas encompass standards, implementation considerations and outcomes such as ADEs, pharmacy workflow and physician adoption.

The perceived financial impact of quality improvement efforts in community health centers.

We administered surveys to 100 chief executive officers (CEOs) of community health centers to determine their perceptions of the financial impact of the Health Disparities Collaboratives, a national quality improvement initiative. One third of the CEOs believed that the HDC had a negative financial impact on their health center, and this perception was significantly correlated with centers having a higher proportion of uninsured patients. Performance-based payment incentives may improve care but may also add new financial burdens to facilities that treat the uninsured population.