The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced that it is seeking input from the public on its proposed strategic framework for AHRQ’s Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (PCORTF) investments. Comments on this notice must be received by Tuesday, May 24, via email.
Background: The proposed strategic framework identifies five priorities for improving healthcare delivery that are aligned with AHRQ’s mission and that have the potential to improve outcomes that patients care about. These priorities are interrelated, and all contribute to achieving the proposed strategic framework’s overall vision of equitable whole-person care across the lifespan. The proposed strategic framework is consistent with AHRQ’s Congressional authorization for investments from the PCORTF and is aligned with national health priorities.
The AHRQ PCORTF strategic framework includes a mission, vision, high-level priorities, desired outcomes, and cross-cutting strategies for advancing the desired outcomes. This framework is expected to describe and inform the portfolio of AHRQ PCORTF investments. AHRQ will use this broad framework to guide long-range planning and to guide the development of projects and investments.
AHRQ’s updated strategic framework sends an exciting signal about the Agency’s growing efforts to re-imagine and improve the way healthcare is delivered. It foreshadows a new era of robust initiatives designed to ensure widespread use of the findings of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) to positively impact outcomes that matter to patients and families.
- AHRQ training grants have helped hundreds of researchers augment their skills in PCOR methods and advanced efforts to generate new scientific evidence and develop effective analytic tools.
- Investments in shared decision making have improved provider-patient communication.
- AHRQ’s Academy of Behavioral Health Integration & Primary Care has expanded the availability of tools for providers to detect and treat common mental health issues, as well as offer wider access to medication for opioid use disorder.
- With broad investments in practice facilitation, AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW project has increased the ability of primary care practices to use evidence to improve heart health, treat unhealthy alcohol use, and manage urinary incontinence in women.
- AHRQ’s Compendium of U.S. Health Systems, a first-of-its-kind publicly available database on the characteristics and organization of U.S. health systems, has helped to identify policies and practices most conducive to implementing PCOR quality improvement in health systems.
- Through the Clinical Decision Support Connect initiative, AHRQ has developed a repository of shared, publicly available, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) clinical decision support tools to guide evidence-based clinical care.
PCOR evidence into practice and train additional researchers to partner with patients, families, and communities to conduct PCOR. To do so effectively, AHRQ has developed a strategic plan to guide its long-range planning and seeks public input on the framework and about the best possible strategies for its PCOR investments.
In coming months, using feedback from the public, AHRQ will also work closely with other recipients of PCOR Trust Fund support—the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation—to ensure that PCOR investments are coordinated and aligned.
Explore AHRQ’s proposed strategic framework, as well as draft key questions, and share your ideas. Questions should be sent to Karin Rhodes, MD, chief implementation officer.