AMCNO to Partner with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Review (AHRQ)
The AMCNO board of directors has agreed to partner with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Review (AHRQ) as a part of their Effective Health Care (EHC) program. AHRQ is the lead federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) charged with health services research to improve the quality of health care, reduce its cost and broaden access to essential services. AHRQ’s mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care for all Americans and over 80 percent of the agency’s budget is invested in grants and contracts to improve health care. 

The EHC program funds patient-centered outcomes research for clinicians, consumers and policymakers and aims to improve the quality of health care and promote evidence-based decision making. The EHC research findings are utilized in summary guides, learning modules and decision aids. AHRQ’s patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) – also known as Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) – which compares the benefits and harms of different interventions and strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat and monitor health conditions in “real world” settings. While not making any recommendations, AHRQ’s patient-centered outcomes materials help clinicians and patients make more informed health care decisions by comparing evidence on the effectiveness, benefits, and risks of different treatment options. AHRQ is the only federal agency legislatively mandated to conduct PCOR or CER and this is done through the Effective Health Care (EHC) program. 

The EHC program was initially created to impact Medicare and Medicaid programs, however, the scope has been expanded so that all clinicians and patients can benefit from the EHC research and its findings. Hallmarks of the EHC program are: 

  • Provides current, unbiased evidence of clinical effectiveness of health care interventions (primarily through systemic reviews of literature and generation of new evidence through observational studies).
  • Focuses on patient-centered outcomes and 14 priority conditions.
  • Helps consumers, providers and other health care decision makers make informed treatment choices among alternatives.
  • Does not make treatment recommendations and is stakeholder driven.

As part of the EHC effort, AHRQ is looking for organizations to partner with in its effort to help individuals make more informed decisions and to improve the quality of health care services. To that end, AHRQ's Effective Health Care Program is building a national partnership network dedicated to promoting patient-centered outcomes research in patient and professional health care communities across the United States. AHRQ has invited the AMCNO to be a part of the network. The AMCNO joins numerous other medical organizations from across the country that have already partnered with AHRQ on this initiative. More information on this initiative will be available soon on the AMCNO website and in our publications.