Lance's Corner

AHRQ Issues CDSiC Newsletter

Sep 12, 2025

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has issued its Clinical Decision Support Innovation Collaborative (CDSiC) newsletter.

Issue Number 33 | September 12, 2025
As the AHRQ CDSiC draws to a close in September 2025, we celebrate four years of innovation, partnership, and impact—work that has shaped the landscape of patient-centered clinical decision support (PC CDS) and will help to empower patients for years to come.  Below, we share some of the project's final resources, featuring the AHRQ CDSiC's findings on critical PC CDS topics: measurement, standardization, and effective implementation. 
Stay tuned for a follow-up newsletter that will share an overview of the cutting-edge work that's been completed by the AHRQ CDSiC since its launch and highlight ways to access our work moving forward.
Table of Contents:
Despite the strong link between patient experience and healthcare quality, few existing measures capture patients' experiences with PC CDS.  There is also no nationally representative survey data related to the use of PC CDS, limiting the understanding of the current state of PC CDS in the U.S.  To help address these challenges, the AHRQ CDSiC created a new report that identifies key domains which can be used to measure patient experience with PC CDS and provides a bank of 41 patient-informed survey questions that support measurement in this key area.  The survey questions include:

  • Screening questions that help to understand the respondent's use of PC CDS
  • Questions that probe patient experience with PC CDS, corresponding to high-priority domains such as self-management support and shared decision making
  • Questions on patients' willingness to try PC CDS or artificial intelligence-supported healthcare tools in the future
Access the report here!
Override reasons are provided by clinicians, patients, or caregivers when declining PC CDS recommendations.  While this data provides insights that can be used to improve PC CDS functionality, override reasons often vary in the terminology used across systems, limiting its analysis.  The AHRQ CDSiC previously explored this important topic through the development of a Taxonomy of Override Reasons.  It has now built upon this foundational work to further support the standardization of PC CDS override reasons.  In a new report, the AHRQ CDSiC presents example override reasons to improve consistency across PC CDS and explores strategies to advance the implementation of the taxonomy in PC CDS systems.  The report also highlights five directions for future efforts to improve the override taxonomy and facilitate its implementation.  Access this resource here!
Text message-facilitated PC CDS holds promise as an efficient, cost-effective way to reach patients across a range of clinical interactions.  To advance this cutting-edge method of engaging patients in decision making, the AHRQ CDSiC produced a report that shares practical guidance for its implementation.  The report highlights promising practices that PC CDS implementers and healthcare organizations can adopt to further encourage patient engagement, from involving patients in co-design to supporting bidirectional communication with patients.  By leveraging the strategies included in the report, stakeholders can encourage organizational and system-wide shifts to create supportive environments that can facilitate the scaling of text message-facilitated PC CDS.  Read the full report here!
PC CDS tools can be used to collect data from patients and provide timely information that informs healthcare decision making.  Yet collecting patient-provided data can create burdens for respondents, which may lead to decreased response rates, reduced data accuracy, and a negative impact on the patient-clinician relationship.  As these digital health technologies evolve, it is essential to design data collection methods that are practical, patient-centered, and sustainable.  The AHRQ CDSiC has produced a report that explores this critical topic in depth.  The report identifies 13 contributors to and 16 mitigation strategies for respondent burden related to patient-facing PC CDS.  Multiple stakeholders, from PC CDS developers to clinicians, can use this report to reduce patient burden when collecting data via digital tools by applying mitigation strategies and designing sustainable, patient-centered approaches.  Read the full report here!
 
The Clinical Decision Support Innovation Collaborative (CDSiC) is a community of broad, diverse stakeholders at the forefront of using technology to better support care teams, patients, and caregivers.  The CDSiC is working toward healthcare decisions that are driven by both patient-centered and patient-specific information and that align with patient needs, preferences, and values.  The CDSiC is funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) as part of a multi-component initiative to help advance patient-centered outcomes research into practice through CDS.  For any inquiries regarding the CDSiC you may contact the project team at CDSiC@norc.org.

USDOL Issues Comprehensive Employer Guidance on Long COVID

The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) has issued a comprehensive set of resources that can be accessed below for employers on dealing with Long COVID.

Supporting Employees with Long COVID: A Guide for Employers

The “Supporting Employees with Long COVID” guide from the USDOL-funded Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) and Job Accommodation Network (JAN) addresses the basics of Long COVID, including its intersection with mental health, and common workplace supports for different symptoms.  It also explores employers’ responsibilities to provide reasonable accommodations and answers frequently asked questions about Long COVID and employment, including inquiries related to telework and leave.

Download the guide

Accommodation and Compliance: Long COVID

The Long COVID Accommodation and Compliance webpage from the USDOL-funded Job Accommodation Network (JAN) helps employers and employees understand strategies for supporting workers with Long COVID.  Topics include Long COVID in the context of disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), specific accommodation ideas based on limitations or work-related functions, common situations and solutions, and questions to consider when identifying effective accommodations for employees with Long COVID.  Find this and other Long COVID resources from JAN, below:

Long COVID, Disability and Underserved Communities: Recommendations for Employers

The research-to-practice brief “Long COVID, Disability and Underserved Communities” synthesizes an extensive review of documents, literature and data sources, conducted by the USDOL-funded Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) on the impact of Long COVID on employment, with a focus on demographic differences.  It also outlines recommended actions organizations can take to create a supportive and inclusive workplace culture for people with Long COVID, especially those with disabilities who belong to other historically underserved groups.

Read the brief

Long COVID and Disability Accommodations in the Workplace

The policy brief “Long COVID and Disability Accommodations in the Workplace” explores Long COVID’s impact on the workforce and provides examples of policy actions different states are taking to help affected people remain at work or return when ready.  It was developed by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) as part of its involvement in USDOL’s State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED) initiative.

Download the policy brief

Understanding and Addressing the Workplace Challenges Related to Long COVID

The report “Understanding and Addressing the Workplace Challenges Related to Long COVID” summarizes key themes and takeaways from an ePolicyWorks national online dialogue through which members of the public were invited to share their experiences and insights regarding workplace challenges posed by Long COVID.  The dialogue took place during summer 2022 and was hosted by USDOL and its agencies in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Surgeon General.

Download the report

Working with Long COVID

The USDOL-published “Working with Long COVID” fact sheet shares strategies for supporting workers with Long COVID, including accommodations for common symptoms and resources for further guidance and assistance with specific situations.

Download the fact sheet

COVID-19: Long-Term Symptoms

This USDOL motion graphic informs workers with Long COVID that they may be entitled to temporary or long-term supports to help them stay on the job or return to work when ready, and shares where they can find related assistance.

Watch the motion graphic

A Personal Story of Long COVID and Disability Disclosure

In the podcast “A Personal Story of Long COVID and Disability Disclosure,” Pam Bingham, senior program manager for Intuit’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Tech team, shares her personal experience of navigating Long COVID symptoms at work.  The segment was produced by the USDOL-funded Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT) as part of its ongoing “Future of Work” podcast series.

Listen to the podcast

HHS OIG Issues Annual Report on State MFCUs

Per the notice below, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued its annual report on the performance of state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs).

Medicaid Fraud Control Units Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report (OEI-09-24-00200) 

Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs) investigate and prosecute Medicaid provider fraud and patient abuse or neglect. OIG is the Federal agency that oversees and annually approves federal funding for MFCUs through a recertification process. This new report analyzed the statistical data on annual case outcomes—such as convictions, civil settlements and judgments, and recoveries—that the 53 MFCUs submitted for Fiscal Year 2023.  New York data is as follows:

Outcomes

  • Investigations1 - 556
  • Indicted/Charged - 9
  • Convictions - 8
  • Civil Settlements/Judgments - 28
  • Recoveries2 - $73,204,518

Resources

  • MFCU Expenditures3 - $55,964,293
  • Staff on Board4 - 257

1Investigations are defined as the total number of open investigations at the end of the fiscal year.

2Recoveries are defined as the amount of money that defendants are required to pay as a result of a settlement, judgment, or prefiling settlement in criminal and civil cases and may not reflect actual collections.  Recoveries may involve cases that include participation by other Federal and State agencies.

3MFCU and Medicaid Expenditures include both State and Federal expenditures.

4Staff on Board is defined as the total number of staff employed by the Unit at the end of the fiscal year.

Read the Full Report

View the Statistical Chart

Engage with the Interactive Map

GAO Issues Report on Medicaid Managed Care Service Denials and Appeal Outcomes

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes.  GAO found that federal oversight is limited because it doesn't require states to report on Medicaid managed care service denials or appeal outcomes and there has not been much progress on plans to analyze and make the data publicly available.  To read the GAO report on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes, use the first link below.  To read GAO highlights of the report on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes, use the second link below.
https://www.gao.gov/assets/d24106627.pdf  (GAO report on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes)
https://www.gao.gov/assets/d24106627_high.pdf  (GAO highlights on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes)

CMS Issues Latest Medicare Regulatory Activities Update

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its latest update on its regulatory activities in the Medicare program.  While dentistry is only minimally connected to the Medicare program, Medicare drives the majority of health care policies and insurance reimbursement policies throughout the country.  Therefore, it always pays to keep a close eye on what CMS is doing in Medicare.  To read the latest CMS update on its regulatory activities in Medicare, use the link below.
https://www.cms.gov/training-education/medicare-learning-network/newsletter/2024-03-14-mlnc