Knowledge Transfer and Implementation Program
Translating research into practice as quickly as
possible is a high priority for AHRQ. As part of its
mission to develop programs for disseminating and
implementing the results of Agency activities, the
Office of Communications and Knowledge
Transfer (OCKT) directs a Knowledge Transfer and
Implementation Program to promote the use of
AHRQ tools, products, and initiatives by various
stakeholders. Working with contractors, Knowledge
Transfer activities consist of a series of projects that
disseminate and implement AHRQ products, tools,
and research to a specific target audience. The goals
are to:
- Enhance awareness about AHRQ's tools,
research, and products.
- Increase knowledge about the suite of AHRQ
tools available.
- Assist target audiences in the actual
implementation of AHRQ tools, research, and
products.
- Gain feedback regarding the successes and
barriers that organizations are experiencing in
implementing AHRQ initiatives.
- Develop case studies showing how target
audiences have actually disseminated and
implemented specific AHRQ products.
Pharmacy Suite of Tools
By developing partnerships with key organizations
and associations, this project disseminated and
promoted products and tools developed from
AHRQ's Effective Health Care Program, which
supports the Comparative Effectiveness Portfolio.
In FY09, this project established collaborative
relationships with six pharmacy-related specialty
societies to help disseminate Comparative
Effectiveness reports and articles to the pharmacy
community including the American Pharmacists
Association, American Society of Health-System
Pharmacists, American College of Clinical
Pharmacy, Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy,
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and
American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. In
addition, in partnership with the American
Pharmacy Association, the project produced three
Web conferences based on Comparative
Effectiveness reports and articles. Over 600 people
attended the Web conferences, which included
certified continuing pharmacy credits for
participants:
- Comparative Effectiveness, Safety, and Indications
of Insulin Analogues in Premixed Formulations for
Adults with Type 2 Diabetes—discussed the
effectiveness and safety of premixed insulin
analogues as well as practical and effective
therapy options for patients with diabetes.
- Atypical Antipsychotic Drugs and the Risk of
Sudden Cardiac Death—described AHRQ's
Comparative Effectiveness program and the
scientific resources it provides to inform health
care decisions and evidence-based practice,
compared the risk of sudden cardiac death
associated with the use of the two classes of
antipsychotic drugs.
- Comparative Effectiveness Research: Relevance and
Applications to Pharmacy—explains comparative
effectiveness research, differentiates
pharmaceutical comparative effectiveness studies
from traditional efficacy studies, and describes how to apply comparative effectiveness research
to pharmacy practice.
Purchasers Suite of Tools
This project promoted selected AHRQ products to
purchasers of health care in the private sector in
support of the Value Research, Comparative
Effectiveness, Patient Safety, and Prevention Care
Management Portfolios. Three Web conferences
were developed and conducted as part of a series of
events targeted to the purchaser and employer
audience. Over 200 people participated in the Web
conferences.
- Setting the Quality Agenda—focused on AHRQ
tools designed to help users assess the quality of
care in their communities and identify gaps or
variations in the quality of care provided. Tools
that were featured included HCUPnet,
EQUIPS (now known as MONAHRQ),
Prevention Quality Indicators Mapping Tools,
and CAHPS®.
- Promoting a Healthy Workforce—employers,
employer coalitions, other purchasers, and
consumers were invited to join experts from
AHRQ to discuss how patient-focused guides,
videos, and other tools such as
recommendations from the U.S. Preventive
Services Task Force and the Comparative
Effectiveness Research Guides for Consumers
can support employees who want to be more
active and involved in their health care.
- Principles of Effective Public Reporting—experts
discussed the principles of effective public
reporting and talked about tools and resources
developed by AHRQ to promote effective
public reporting and an increased
understanding around quality data in health
care. Two of the featured AHRQ tools were the
Health Topics Model Report and the
Composite Model Report.
Electronic Preventive Services
Selector (ePSS)
The AHRQ Electronic Preventive Services Selector
(ePSS) project supported the Prevention/Care
Management Portfolio. The ePSS is an interactive tool, initially designed for use on PDAs or desktop
computers, to help primary care clinicians
incorporate the screening, counseling, and
preventive services recommendations of the
USPSTF that are appropriate for their patients. In
FY09, AHRQ sponsored a project to examine the
feasibility of and potential approaches to
integrating the ePSS tool in electronic formats,
such as reminder systems and electronic medical
records (EMR). AHRQ worked with organizations
and tested specific approaches, as follows:
- Prosocial Applications, Inc. provides a personal
health record system services called
SmartPHR™, which provides health care
planning and communication tools for patients
with chronic conditions. ePSS access was
presented to SmartPHR™ customers as an
informational and education resource to assist
patients to make more informed decisions with
their care providers. The intent was to also
provide the ePSS via Web services application
programming interface in a later version of the
SmartPHR™.
- The Indian Health Service (IHS) is the Federal
agency responsible for providing medical and
public health services to members of federally
recognized tribes and Alaska Natives. The
electronic medical record used by the IHS is the
Resource and Patient Management System
(RPMS). A gap analysis was conducted to
determine the logic and data elements utilized
by AHRQ's ePSS for identifying preventive
services and those used by the IHS system. It
was determined that the RPMS contains
sufficient data elements so that the USPSTF
recommendations can easily be built into the
Best Practice and Health Maintenance sections
of the existing RPMS Health Summary.
- Michigan State University/Clinical Content
Consultants conducted a proof of concept for
the ePSS using a commercial EMR that focused
on demonstrating the viability of utilizing the
ePSS tool. The proof of concept successfully
demonstrated a Web service call and the use of
a PDF file digital library to access
recommendations of the Task Force.
- The State of Oregon's Division of Medical
Assistance Programs (DMAP) oversees the
Oregon Health Plan (OHP), which is a public
and private partnership that ensures universal
access to a basic level of health care for
Oregonians. DMAP's approach was to utilize
the ePSS from a population perspective using
the OHP. Clients are covered from DMAP's
Prioritized List of Health Services, which uses
Task Force recommendations as the baseline for
this list and the ePSS as a means of monitoring
and administrating services in the OHP. DMAP
plans to fully integrate the ePSS with its
information system.
Hospital Product Line
This project supported the Patient Safety Portfolio.
Its purpose was to increase awareness of AHRQ
among hospitals and health systems and help
hospitals enhance their quality and safety by
implementing AHRQ products and tools.
Technical assistance was provided to individual
hospitals as well as groups of hospitals in the form
of in-person meetings, Web conferences, and
conference calls. As a result of this project:
- Critical access hospitals in Nebraska and North
Dakota hospitals were trained to use
TeamSTEPPS to improve the safety culture in
their respective hospitals. A subset of the
Nebraska hospitals conducted the AHRQ
Hospital Culture Survey pre- and post-training
to document the impact of the training.
- Hospitals in New York, Illinois, and Iowa were
trained on the Preventing Hospital-Acquired
Venous Thromboembolism (VTE): A Guide for
Effective Quality Improvement toolkit. Many
of these hospitals have implemented new VTE
prophylaxis protocols, and have changed how
they measure prophylaxis rates as a result.
- Several hospitals implemented the Improving
Patient Flow in the Emergency Department
(ED) Toolkit and as a result decreased the
amount of time it took a patient to see a
clinician as well as the number of patients
leaving the ED without being seen.
Public Health Emergency
Preparedness: Tools for States
This project supported the Prevention/Care
Management Portfolio. It assisted communities in
identifying and using AHRQ products in the
development of their emergency response plans and
to facilitate the broad dissemination and uptake of
AHRQ emergency preparedness products by local
emergency preparedness planners, community
partners, national associations, and other Federal
agencies. Mono/Inyo Counties in California, and
Howard County, Maryland, were selected for
implementation of AHRQ products. As a result:
- Both Mono/Inyo and Howard counties
implemented AHRQ resources in their
emergency preparedness plans. AHRQ staff and
project consultants helped to assess sites'
organizational structures, population needs,
gaps in preparedness plans, and opportunities
for engagement.
- AHRQ products that were used and/or
disseminated include:
- Alternate Care Site Selection Tool/Disaster
Alternate Care Facilities: Selection and
Operation (DACF)
- Emergency Preparedness Resource Inventory
(EPRI)
- Adapting Community Call Centers for
Crisis Support (Call Centers)
- Community-Based Mass Prophylaxis: A
Planning Guide
- BERM 2.0 (Computer Staffing Model for
Bioterrorism Response)
- Hospital Surge Model
- Mass Evacuation Transportation Model
- Home Health Care During an Influenza
Pandemic: Issues and Resources Report.
Public Health Emergency
Preparedness: Web Conferences
The four national Web conferences on public
health emergency preparedness supported the
Prevention/Care Management Portfolio and allowed wide dissemination of AHRQ's public
health emergency preparedness products to a broad
field of stakeholders. Audiences ranged in size from
700-1,300 participants that included Federal, State,
and local public health agencies, health care
facilities, and policymakers.
- Lessons Learned from the Field of Emergency
Preparedness—focused on supporting
community emergency preparedness planning
in the event of a natural or man-made disaster
that could overwhelm health care facilities with
a surge of patients with diverse medical needs.
- Planning and Practicing for a Disaster—engaged
developers of selected AHRQ preparedness
tools, as well as planners who have used the
tools, to demonstrate and give insights on
managing mass medical care, resource
allocation, and patient evacuation.
- Planning and Preparedness for Children's Needs in
Public Health Emergencies—highlighted the
crucial differences between adults and children
and responding to these with research to help
address the needs of children in emergencies. In
addition to the resources for protecting and
caring for children who are in a hospital or a
school during a public health emergency,
speakers shared perspectives on both clinical
preparedness and school-based preparedness
from the National Commission on Children
and Disasters, the Assistant Secretary for
Preparedness and Response's Hospital
Preparedness Program, and the U.S.
Department of Education.
- Planning for an Influenza Pandemic in the Home
Health Care Sector—speakers addressed concerns
that a pandemic influenza outbreak could
exceed the industry's current capacity to
respond if hospital patients who are well enough
to be discharged but who still need care are
added to the half-million patients currently
receiving home health care services.
- AHRQ products that were used and/or
disseminated through national Web
conferences:
- Mass Medical Care with Scarce Resources.
- Rocky Mountain Regional Care Model for
Bioterrorist Events.
- Emergency Preparedness Resource Inventory
(EPRI).
- Mass Evacuation Transportation Model.
- Hospital Surge Model.
- National Mass Patient and Evacuee
Movement, Regulating, and Tracking
System: Recommendations.
- Tool for Evaluating Core Elements of
Hospital Disaster Drills.
- School-Based Emergency Preparedness: A
National Analysis and Recommended
Protocol.
- Pediatric Hospital Surge Capacity in Public
Health Emergencies.
- Home Health Care During an Influenza
Pandemic: Issues and Resources.
- Mass Casualty Events Models and Tools To
Support Planning and Response for
Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness.
Using AHRQ technology assessments to inform coverage decisions
As a result of AHRQ's Knowledge Transfer Program, several State Medicaid policymakers have used the
AHRQ Technology Assessment, Non-Invasive Imaging for Coronary Artery Disease, to help inform
coverage decisions in their States. The technology assessment, which examined the scientific evidence on
direct non-invasive imaging tests for evaluating coronary artery disease, has proven useful to the
Medicaid Medical Directors' Learning Network.
One of the imaging tests examined in the technology assessment is computed tomographic angiography
(CTA), a specialized x-ray that examines blood flow in arteries when they are filled with a contrast
material. The report concluded that the evidence base for CTA's ability to identify, quantify, or
characterize coronary artery disease was limited.
James J. Figge, MD, MBA, Medical Director, Office of Health Insurance Programs, New York State
Department of Health, notes that the AHRQ technology assessment was "the single most important
item we considered" in making an initial coverage decision for CTA. Robert Moon, Medical Director,
Office of Health Policy, Alabama Medicaid Agency, used the report findings to analyze whether the State
agency should conduct in-house prior authorizations for CTA or use a prior authorization contractor.
Alabama officials used the technology assessment findings to support Medicaid's decision not to cover
this procedure unless a unique medical justification was supplied. |
Medicaid Medical Directors
Learning Network
The Medicaid Medical Directors Learning Network
(MMDLN) provided a forum for clinical leaders of
State Medicaid programs to discuss their most
pressing needs as policymakers, use relevant AHRQ
products and related evidence to address their
concerns, and determine their needs for future
research. Through this project, they connected with
other organizations interested in using evidence-based
medicine to make policy decisions that
impact Medicaid programs. The MMDLN
supported the Comparative Effectiveness and Value
Research Portfolios in FY09 through the following
activities:
- For the first time, the Medicaid Medical
Directors were asked to develop several clinical
tracks at the annual National Association for
State Medicaid Directors Fall 2008 meeting.
Two of these tracks featured AHRQ products.
One focused on pediatric obesity and featured
the EPC report, Effectiveness of Weight
Management Programs in Children and
Adolescents. The other session discussed the
Atypical Antipsychotic Use in Children project, which is a collaboration between 14 Medicaid
Medical Directors and the Rutgers CERT to
develop a workbook for other States interested
in conducting their own data analyses on trends
in atypical antipsychotic prescribing.
- The MMDLN held its 9th meeting with 34
members representing 31 States and the District
of Columbia attending. Session topics included
quality improvement opportunities for hospital
readmissions, efforts to create a comprehensive
quality measurement system for children's
health care, an update on CMS's quality
framework and other Medicaid quality-related
initiatives, an interactive topic refinement
exercise to gain feedback on two topics under
review to become AHRQ EHC Program
reports, and an opportunity to review and
discuss how AHRQ resources are being used to
make decisions. Overall, the MMDLN has
nominated 28 topics to the EHC Program, and
19 of those topics are moving forward for
comparative effective research either as a review,
an update, a technical brief, or as potential new
research.
- Chronic Disease Cost Calculator—a Web
conference on the tool developed by the CDC
and based on AHRQ's MEPS database for 74
State policymakers representing 28 States and
the District of Columbia. Experts provided an
overview of the calculator and a live
demonstration on how to use the tool using the
State of Kansas as an example.
- Integration of Mental Health/Substance Abuse and
Primary Care—a Web conference on the EPC
report, an expert from the Minnesota EPC gave
an overview of the report to 17 Medicaid
officials. Wyoming Medicaid presented their
State's program to integrate primary care and
mental health. During the questions and
answer session, participants were particularly
interested in how to incorporate the research
findings and promising State practices into their
respective Medicaid programs.
- EQUIPS (now MONAHRQ)—this Web
conference provided an overview of the design and functionality of the EQUIPS tool and
outlined current data considerations in the
alpha testing phase to 39 participants from 24
States. The discussion included performance
measures, customization of the Web output,
and public reporting. Following the call, several
participants responded that they would share
this application with colleagues and begin
discussions on future implementation. Four
organizations also expressed interest in
becoming beta testers.
- 2008 State Snapshots—this Web conference
provided a live demonstration on how to use
the Snapshots for 35 participants. New York's
Medicaid Medical Director and the Utah
Department of Health shared how they have
used the Snapshots to improve quality in their
respective States.
Hispanic Elders Learning Network
The Hispanic Elders Learning Network (HELN)
supported the Prevention/Care Management
Portfolio through the development of local,
evidence-based intervention plans for reducing
health disparities and improving the delivery of
health care and related aging and social services for
Hispanic elders. It fostered the development of
interdisciplinary teams/coalitions in eight
communities with large populations of Hispanic
elders (Chicago; Houston; Los Angeles; McAllen;
Miami; New York; San Antonio; and San Diego).
In addition, it linked them together in a learning
network with a team of national experts in the
areas of health disparities measurement, evidence-based
programs, community health, and
organization. Some of the significant activities
included:
- A total of 109 members participated on the
HELN listserv throughout the project period.
- The AHRQ-sponsored/supported products that
were disseminated through the listserv included:
- AHRQ National Healthcare Disparities Report
and National Healthcare Quality Report.
- AHRQ Registries for Evaluating Patient
Outcomes: A User's Guide-Final Research Report and AHRQ Registries for Evaluating
Patient Outcomes: A User's Guide-Summary.
- AHRQ Superheroes Advertising Campaign.
- AHRQ Spanish-Language Consumer Guide
on Osteoarthritis Drugs.
- AHRQ Pastillas para la Diabetes Tipo 2:
Guía para Adultos.
- The project promoted the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) and its
Spanish version Tomando Control de Su Salud
(Tomando) in support of community teams'
development of local, evidence-based
intervention plans. Six of the eight community
teams want to use Tomando, or a modified
version of it, as part of their intervention. The
CDSMP was developed at the Stanford
University Patient Education Research Center,
in part with AHRQ funding.
- The success of this project was influential in
establishing the Diabetes Self-Management
Training (DSMT) Initiative, which builds upon
the work and community teams of the HELN,
and other teams to develop and implement a
DSMT program in their community and
expand the target population to all minorities.
AHRQ State Snapshots support changes in legislation to improve primary and
preventive care
The New York State Department of Health used the AHRQ State Snapshots to support legislation to
improve primary and preventive care that provides patient self-management programs to Medicaid
recipients.
Foster Gesten, MD, Medical Director of the Office of Health Insurance Programs in the New York State
Department of Health, learned about the Snapshots through his participation in the AHRQ-sponsored
Medicaid Medical Directors Learning Network. Compared with other States, New York is in the "weak"
range for overall health care quality, as reported in the 2007 State Snapshots. New York's weakest
measures include relatively high rates of hospital admissions for children with asthma, relatively high
rates of hospital admissions for adults with diabetes having long-term complications, and relatively
high rates of hospital admissions for adults with uncontrolled diabetes without complications.
New York's strongest measures include a relatively high rate for the percentage of short-stay nursing
home residents who were assessed and given pneumococcal vaccination and a relatively low rate for the
percentage of deaths among infants without low birth weight. The 2007 State Snapshots' composite
measures of clinical care further indicate that New York State has room to improve in diabetes and
asthma care, both having scored within the weak range. Gesten says that he used New York's State
Snapshot as "a general clarion call that all is not well in the State."
In particular, the State Snapshot information, as well as AHRQ's Prevention Quality Indicator scores
using Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data, were used to make a case, "that the data supports
our need to make an investment to improve primary care and preventive care in the ambulatory setting."
According to Gesten, such educational efforts resulted in legislative reforms that will provide self-management
education for Medicaid patients with diabetes and asthma. |
Evidence-Based Disability and
Disease Prevention for Elders
Learning Network
The purpose of this project was to establish
effective links between local aging services and
clinical providers to provide more integrated
approaches to serving elders. Many States and local
communities have traditionally lacked an organized
system of programs and services, which is a barrier
to promoting health among older adults. To
address the issues of fragmented services, the Area
Agency on Aging, AHRQ, and CDC began Phase II of the Elders Learning Network (ELN), an
action-based, shared learning network. This project
sought to enhance collaboration and shared
learning among ELN teams in Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Illinois, New Jersey, and Ohio
through consistent communication and to promote
relevant AHRQ and other related materials and
products to help ELN teams work and activities. Its
goals were to ensure access to community-and
evidence-based programs; advance health care
quality and contain health care costs; promote
healthy communities and individual wellness
addressing chronic conditions; connect health
systems and community service network providers;
build credibility and trust with elders and
caregivers as a model for self-management; and
build disability and disease prevention action plans
by State teams. The major accomplishments of this
project included:
- Integration of CDSMP training and the
Tomando Control (Spanish translated version)
programs into Area Agencies on Aging
sponsoring evidence-based disease prevention
and health programs.
- Senior care organizations working with primary
care practice to disseminate program
information.
- Increased credibility with health care and
medical community (including recruiting
physician champions), which enhanced
partnerships.
- Convened a final meeting of Federal partners
and ELN State teams where each reported on the benefits of collaboration, challenges, and
lessons learned.
- The Illinois Team will be piloting four training
workshops connecting CDSMP with care
coordination/care management in a clinical
setting.
- Massachusetts currently has three evidence-based
CDSMPs and is now focused on building
programs in the North Shore area. The State
team ensures provider capacity meets the needs
of the growing Latino population in the area.
- New Jersey is now actively coordinating
provider connection to the State's previously
existing CDSMP.
- Maine is developing partners in Central and
Southern Maine to implement CDSMP.
Effective Health Care Outreach to
Clinicians
The purpose of this project was to develop
relationships with key clinician organizations and
work with those organizations to keep their
members informed of comparative effectiveness
research findings from the Effective Health Care
(EHC) Program. As a result, 30 clinician groups
committed to promoting this research through
membership distribution channels. Over time, each
group has been updated about new product releases
and encouraged to become increasingly engaged in
the EHC Program by submitting topic
nominations, serving as product reviewers, or other
means.
These medical specialty and academic societies have
used numerous mechanisms to both disseminate
and increase the uptake of EHC products,
including: using EHC evidence reviews and
clinician summary guides to create online
continuing educational opportunities; providing
free advertising space to promote EHC research in
professional publications; and co-sponsoring a
direct mail campaign to encourage large orders of
clinician summary guides for use in CME courses.
The following summaries provide specific
examples of organizations that actively promoted
the EHC Program research findings to members:
- American Academy of Nurse Practitioners
(AANP): Announced the release of the oral
diabetes medications and osteoarthritis
clinician guides in the AANP SmartBriefs daily
e-mail in April 2009 and placed an
announcement about the gestational diabetes
clinician guide in the AANP SmartBriefs in
August 2009. SmartBriefs reach over 125,000
nurse practitioners. AANP also offered two
online continuing education programs designed
around EHC clinician guides and full
comparative effectiveness reports. A continuing
education program on the Comparative
Effectiveness, Safety and Indications of Premixed
Insulin Analogues for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes
report was launched with 122 nurse
practitioners completing the post-test and 108
receiving credit through the end of July
2009. In August 2009, they launched a new
program on the Comparative Effectiveness of
ACEIs and ARBs for Treating Essential
Hypertension.
- American Osteopathic Association (AOA):
Announced the release of the type 2 diabetes
and osteoarthritis clinician guides in
the Touchpoints monthly newsletter in June
2009. The item offered clinicians up to 200 free
copies of clinician or consumer guides. A half-page
public service ad also appeared in the
Journal of the American Osteopathic Association in
April and May 2009. The AOA has a
membership base of 65,000 practicing doctors
of osteopathic medicine.
- Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine: Announced the release of the
osteoarthritis of the knee clinician guide in
the "Resources" section of its Web site. In
March 2009, the University also sent an e-mail
blast announcement to its listserv of 150,000
clinicians promoting AHRQ type 2 diabetes
and osteoarthritis clinician and
consumer guides.
- Society for Academic Continuing Medical
Education (SACME): In February 2009,
SACME placed an article on the EHC Program
in its quarterly online journal, INTERCOM.
Following its annual meeting, SACME
distributed to members via e-mail an offer of up
to 500 free copies of the insulin analogues and
treatments for osteoarthritis clinician summary
guides; 25 members ordered 11,036 copies of
EHC guides in April 2009. In November,
SACME sent out mailings to 265 members
encouraging orders of up to 500 free copies
each of clinician guides. The mailings, in
envelopes co-branded with both AHRQ and
SACME logos, included cover letters, sample
guides, and publication order forms specially
designed for SACME members. SACME
members are individuals from medical schools,
academic medical centers, medical specialty
societies, teaching hospitals, schools of public
health, and other organizations that promote
development of continuing medical education.
Return to Contents
Conclusion
In FY 2010, AHRQ is continuing to further its
mission to improve the quality, safety, efficiency
and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.
In addition to its work to eliminate health
care-associated infections, promote health IT, and
provide data and information for decisionmaking,
as of December 2009, the Agency had announced
six new funding opportunities for comparative
effectiveness research under the Recovery Act as
well as two new funding opportunities to reform
the medical liability system and improve patient
safety. The evidence developed through AHRQ-sponsored
research and analyses helps everyone
involved in patient care make more informed
decisions about what treatments work for whom,
when and, at what point in their care. AHRQ will
continue to invest in successful programs that
develop and translate into evidence, knowledge and
tools that can be used to make measurable
improvements in health care in America through
improved quality of care and patient outcomes and
value gained for what we spend.
Abbreviations
AHRQ - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CER - Comparative Effectiveness Review
CERT - Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics
CMS - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
DEcIDE - Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions about Effectiveness
EHC - Effective Health Care
EHR - electronic health record
EMR - electronic medical record
EPC - Evidence-based Practice Center
ePSS - Electronic Preventive Services Selector
FY09 - fiscal year 2009
health IT - health information technology
HCUP - Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project
HHS - Health and Human Services
HRSA - Health Resources and Services Administration
IHS - Indian Health Service
MEPS - Medical Expenditure Panel Survey
NHDR - National Healthcare Disparities Report
NHQR - National Healthcare Quality Report
NRC - National Resource Center for Health Information Technology
USPSTF - U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Return to Contents
AHRQ Publication No. 09(10)-0017
Current as of April 2010
Internet Citation:
AHRQ Annual Highlights 2009. AHRQ Publication No. 09(10)-0017, April 2010. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/about/highlt09.htm