The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released their Chronic Disease Cost Calculator, which uses AHRQ’s MEPS data. The Chronic Disease Cost Calculator is a downloadable tool that supports States in: (1) Estimating State Medicaid expenditures for six chronic diseases – congestive heart failure, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes, and (2) Generating estimates of the costs to Medicaid of selected chronic diseases using customized inputs (e.g., prevalence rates and treatment costs). Later this spring, the CDC plans to release an updated version of the tool that can be used to estimate costs to payers other than Medicaid. Stay tuned for a notice about this release.

AHRQ Events for States

State Healthcare Quality Improvement Workshops:
Tools You Can Use to Make a Difference

In December 2007 and January 2008, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) hosted two free workshops to stimulate and support quality improvement at the State level. The workshops were designed for State policymakers, State department of health officials, and other key stakeholders and intended to inform State-level health care quality decisions and quality improvement activities.

Each workshop featured a suite of quality tools developed by AHRQ that can be used both to diagnose State-specific (and in some cases region- or institution-specific) quality challenges and to identify opportunities for enhancing the value of health care in those areas. Expert faculty provided an overview of the tools and facilitated guided discussions about possible applications of thetool for State-level decision makers. In total, 191 participants from 35 States and the District of Columbia attended one of the workshops.

Audio and Web Conferences

Based on participant feedback from these two workshops, AHRQ developed a Web conference series to support states in their exploration and use of the profiled quality tools. Each of these Web conferences highlighted an individual AHRQ quality tool. In total, 165 participants from 33 States and the District of Columbia participated in these events during 2008.

Using Administrative Data to Answer State Policy Questions:
Intensive Workshop

In December 2008, AHRQ sponsored and hosted an intensive workshop on Administrative Data and State Policy. Through a competitive application process, nine States were selected to participate in this technical assistance offering: Colorado, Kansas, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Over the course of a day and a half, the intensive workshop provided State teams with an opportunity to explore how their administrative data can be used to answer important policy questions. Faculty showcased several AHRQ tools, including HCUPnet (an online data query system) and Quality Indicators software, which can facilitate policy analysis. The workshop demonstrated that these tools can be used in conjunction with State administrative data to yield valuable heath care information that can inform and guide policy decisions.

The workshop also highlighted examples of how States have used administrative data to support policy analysis. Participants worked through several case study examples to help refine their own policy questions and identify options for utilizing administrative data and AHRQ tools to support policy and budgetary decision-making in their unique State contexts. Highly interactive in nature, the workshop also included a combination of presentations and discussions, with time set aside for State teams to meet individually with AHRQ staff to discuss specific priorities and plans for policy analysis using administrative data.

AHRQ Quality Tool Suite