Frequently Asked Questions

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' (HHS) grant programs in general have requirements for both financial and programmatic performance reporting. Please refer to the Reporting Requirements section for additional details.

Some additional changes to coding updates that are reflected in the v2018 software include:

• The Pediatric Quality Indicator NQI 02 (Neonatal Mortality Rate) is suppressed (see Question 9 for more information).
• The ABDOMIOPEN, ABDOMIPOTHER, and ABDOMI15P formats/setnames were updated to remove esophageal and other esophageal insertion procedures unlikely to be approached through the abdomen. The specifications for PSI 14 and PDI 11 (Postoperative Wound Dehiscence Rate), respectively for the adult and pediatric populations, and PSI 15 (Unrecognized Abdominopelvic Accidental Puncture or Laceration Rate) limit the denominator to abdominopelvic surgery discharges only.
• The formats/setnames used in PDI 08 and PSI 09 (Perioperative Hemorrhage or Hematoma Rate) for pediatric and adult discharges were updated to better match the technical specifications. This includes removing ICD-10 PCS procedure codes in the HEMOTH2P format/setname for control of perioperative hemorrhage and evacuation of hematoma procedures for excision or drainage unrelated to hemorrhage or hematoma. The NEUROMD format identifying neuromuscular disorders updated diagnosis codes to specify respiratory involvement. Refer to the change logs for specific coding details.
• Procedures that are no longer recognized as operating room procedures were removed from the ORPROC format.
• Procedures used in the PDI 05 and PSI 06 (Iatrogenic Pneumothorax Rate for pediatrics and adults) to identify thoracic surgery in the THORAIP format/setname were updated to exclude low risk procedures or procedures that are unlikely to cause non-preventable pneumothorax.
• Diagnosis codes that are exempt from present on admission (POA) classification in the v35 CMS grouper were added to POA exempt format.

All measures that use the ICD-10 CM/PCS coding standards may see some variation in rates resulting from the transition in coding systems. AHRQ recommends using v2018 rates as a starting point for internal assessment and not for comparison across providers. Users may review discharge-level results to determine if evidence in the administrative record indicates occurrence of an adverse event.

Further information about the ICD-10- CM/PCS transition and use of administrative data is available at: https://www.hcupus.ahrq.gov/datainnovations/icd10_resources.jsp.

AHRQ provides the software to any interested organization for use with their own hospital discharge data. The Quality Indicators software is designed to read hospital administrative discharge data that generally conforms to HCUP specifications, in which each hospitalization is reported on a single record.

The software expects that the DRG or ICD-9 code on any given discharge record is valid for the fiscal year of the discharge date. The software is designed to be backwards compatible with previous fiscal year versions. The AHRQ QI software is intended to be used with data that cover an entire patient population (e.g., all discharges from a hospital in a year) or that were sampled from a patient population using simple random sample.

The software only accepts three common data formats: Text (comma separated values), Microsoft Access®, and Microsoft Excel®. Two key formatting issues are that each row of data represents a separate discharge record and each column of data represents a single variable for all discharges.

For information on preparing for surgery, go to the Getting Ready for Your Ambulatory Surgery brochure.

AHRQ provides free continuing education events in the areas of comparative effectiveness, quality and patient safety, and prevention/care management. For more information, visit the Continuing Education page.

Information for clinicians and consumers on how to quit smoking is available for free from AHRQ and other Federal resources. Visit AHRQ's page for Tobacco Users or go to Smokefree.gov.

No. The formula is used for award calculation purposes only. Funds are awarded in a lump sum and grantees are free to expend these as best for their actual needs.

You can be apprised of new grant opportunities from our Agency in the following ways:

• AHRQ has a service that can notify subscribers when a page on the AHRQ website has been updated. Go to https://subscriptions.ahrq.gov/accounts/USAHRQ/subscriber/new to subscribe and select "Grant Announcements" from the topic checklist.
• AHRQ announces new grant opportunities in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. Go to https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/listserv.htm for information on how to subscribe to weekly updates.

"Expanded authorities" refer to a limited number of actions that normally require awarding agency prior approval but for which HHS has waived its authority and given this authority to the grantee.

For more information, go to the HHS Grants Policy Statement (PDF, 1.354 MB).

The Notice of Award will indicate whether or not your award is under expanded authorities.