Researcher Megan McHugh, Ph.D., Works To Improve Heart Health in Manufacturing Communities

Editor’s Note: Due to the Memorial Day holiday, the next issue of AHRQ News Now will be Wednesday, May 28.

AHRQ Stats: Priority Conditions and High Healthcare Spending 

Between 2018 and 2022, 75.1 percent of people in the top 5 percent of healthcare spenders reported having at least two conditions that AHRQ has designated as high priority. These conditions include high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, high cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and asthma. (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #560, Concentration of Healthcare Expenditures and Selected Characteristics of People with High Expenses, United States Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2018–2022.) 

Today’s Headlines:

• Researcher Megan McHugh, Ph.D., Works To Improve Heart Health in Manufacturing Communities.
• New Survey Measures End-of-Life Care Experiences.
• With AHRQ Support, Researchers in Recovery Explore Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Impact.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• Recording Available for NCEPCR Webinar on Health Systems Research.
• Explore MEPS: AHRQ’s Premier Source for Healthcare Use and Cost Data.
• Register for Upcoming AHRQ Webinars.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Researcher Megan McHugh, Ph.D., Works To Improve Heart Health in Manufacturing Communities

“Manufacturing communities have significantly higher rates of smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes and cardiovascular deaths,” according to AHRQ grantee Megan McHugh, Ph.D., professor of emergency medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. 

Dr. McHugh, who is also director of the School’s Manufacturing and Health Research Program, believes that the work environment, lifestyle issues and, in some communities, limited access to healthcare are causing these deficiencies. She has made it her mission to improve health outcomes in manufacturing communities by implementing strategies that address these issues while also aiming to reduce the cost of care for employers. Dr. McHugh began by targeting heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.

With her five-year AHRQ grant, she works directly with large manufacturers’ worksite health centers to improve heart care by implementing proven interventions for high blood pressure and tobacco cessation. Dr. McHugh and her team are currently partnering with these centers to offer evidence-based interventions drawn from AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW initiative, which provides a blueprint for delivering external support to primary care practices to improve care delivery. 

The project, Healthy Hearts in Manufacturing, has already yielded some early findings. Specifically, worksite health centers have the capacity to accommodate more patients, can bring patients back for routine followups more easily than community-based primary care and experience less pressure to keep patient visits brief. Preliminary results also suggest lower rates of burnout among worksite health center clinicians compared with those in community-based primary care.

New Survey Measures End-of-Life Care Experiences

AHRQ recently released the CAHPS End-of-Life Care Survey, a 37-item survey that measures caregivers’ perceptions of experiences of care during a patient’s last month of life. Survey users are health systems, accountable care organizations, Medicare Advantage plans or other organizations that provide or pay for end-of-life healthcare. Intended respondents are caregivers of adults who received end-of-life care. Survey developers used an extensive process to develop the survey, including a literature review, technical expert panel, interviews and field testing. For questions, contact the CAHPS User Network via email or call 1-800-492-9261.

With AHRQ Support, Researchers in Recovery Explore Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Impact

An AHRQ-funded project, led by two authors in recovery, examined barriers, stigma and treatment options for substance use disorder. Their examination of faith-affiliated treatment centers in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment—which they found to provide more inpatient and residential care but less outpatient and medication-based treatment—suggested opportunities for government collaboration and expanded opioid use disorder treatment options.

Further publications from this project include—

• An International Journal of Drug Policy critique of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing’s guideline prioritizing individuals with five years of recovery for public-facing roles, arguing it excludes those seeking nontraditional recovery paths or struggling with recovery.
• A Journal of Diversity in Higher Education study of 17 undergraduate students in recovery attending a university without a collegiate recovery program who reported success through role models, flexible courses and supportive faculty despite facing stigma and access challenges.
• A Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment commentary acknowledging the lead authors’ own success with abstinence-based treatment while advocating for greater acceptance, access and government oversight of alternate recovery paths.

The authors’ findings highlighted the need for inclusive, evidence-based recovery support that embraces diverse pathways and reduces barriers to treatment.

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• Rapid Response Review: Association Between Outcomes and Dental Services in People at Risk of Post-Transplant Complications.
• Rapid Response Review: Association Between Outcomes and Dental Services in People Receiving Treatments That Cause Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw.
• Rapid Response Review: Association Between Outcomes and Dental Services in People With Substance Use Disorder.
• Systematic Review: Blood-Based Tests for Multiple Cancer Screening.
• Systematic Review (draft open for comment through May 30): Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Wellbeing and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents.

Recording Available for NCEPCR Webinar on Health Systems Research 

On April 3, the National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research (NCEPCR) hosted a webinar on the Impact of Consolidation and Ownership on Primary Care. AHRQ-funded researchers shared the results of three different projects that assessed the impact of health system ownership of primary care practices and its influence on patient health outcomes, including Medicare beneficiaries and patients with complex conditions. Amelia Bond, Ph.D., from Weill Cornell Medical College, spoke about vertical integration of health systems. Her research showed that between 2012 and 2022, the share of office visits declined, while federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics and hospital-based outpatient departments visits increased. Jane Zhu, M.D., M.P.P., from Oregon Health and Science University, presented data related to changes in total spending per practice associated with private equity acquisition. Her work assessed current workforce impact, especially due to shortages in primary care providers and Medicare program effects. E. Marshall Brooks, Ph.D., from the Virginia Commonwealth University, worked directly with practices in Virginia. His anthropological mixed methodology offered a complementary point of view for achieving high quality primary care and whole health. Access the recording and slides (PDF, 2.5 MB).

Explore MEPS: AHRQ’s Premier Source for Healthcare Use and Cost Data

For the latest data on how Americans use healthcare and how much they spend on it, researchers and policymakers depend on AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, or MEPS. Since 1996, MEPS has collected data from patients, providers and employers through a series of annual surveys. This valuable information is available through a robust series of data files, curated statistical briefs and reports and peer-reviewed publications. With regular new releases keeping data up to date, MEPS is a useful tool for identifying trends in healthcare use and discovering where new research can be most impactful. Explore the project and discover one of the many ways AHRQ is making data actionable. 

Register for Upcoming AHRQ Webinars

• May 22, 3-5 p.m. ET: AHRQ EPC Grand Rounds—Child and Adolescent Mental Health. 
• AHRQ Safety Program for HAI Prevention: CLABSI Recruitment Webinar:
  • June 5, 10:30-11 a.m. ET.
  • June 11, 1:30-2 p.m. ET.
  • June 24, noon-12:30 p.m. ET.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

From stable teamwork to dynamic teaming in the ambulatory care diagnostic process. Tannenbaum SI, Thomas EJ, Bell SK, et al. Diagnosis 2025 Feb 1;12(1):17-24. Epub 2024 Oct 21. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

New performance measurement framework for realizing patient-centered clinical decision support: qualitative development study. Dullabh P, Zott C, Gauthreaux N, et al. J Med Internet Res 2025 Apr 30;27:e68674. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Precision emergency medicine in health care delivery and access: framework development and research priorities. Salhi RA, Kocher KE, Greenwood-Ericksen M, et al. Acad Emerg Med 2025 Apr;32(4):444-53. Epub 2024 Oct 8. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Estimated burden of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in US adults, 2020 to 2050. Le P, Tatar M, Dasarathy S, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2025 Jan 2;8(1):e2454707. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Is access to crisis teams associated with changes in behavioral health mortality? Newton H, Beetham T, Busch SH. Health Aff Sch 2025 Jan 15;3(1):qxaf003. Epub 2025 Jan 15. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Preliminary analysis of the impact of lab results on large language model generated differential diagnoses. Bhasuran B, Jin Q, Xie Y, et al. NPJ Digit Med 2025 Mar 18;8(1):166. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Pediatric randomized clinical trials in community hospitals: strategies to enhance site participation and engagement. McDaniel CE, Coon ER, Paciorkowski N, et al. Hosp Pediatr 2025 Mar;15(3):e83-e7. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

The association of intraoperative and early postoperative events with risk of pneumonia following cardiac surgery. Barnett NM, Liesman DR, Strobel RJ, et al. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2024 Oct;168(4):1144-54.e3. Epub 2023 Oct 4. Access the abstract on PubMed®.