The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is the leading federal agency prioritizing patient safety, health care quality, and whole-person care delivery to improve the U.S. health care system. The work performed and funded by AHRQ reaches across the U.S. and directly into communities, including local hospitals and primary care practices. Largely invisible to patients, AHRQ’s investments improve patient care encounters with their providers, address quality of life and mental health conditions, and share knowledge with localities who otherwise would not have access to evidence-based information. As HHS announces drastic changes, including a reduction in workforce of about 10,000 full-time employees, it is paramount to understand how investments in community may be impacted. Here are three examples of AHRQ’s investment in communities:
Improves health care access to address opioid behavioral health
One of the challenges of the opioid epidemic is a lack of treatment options, particularly for Americans in rural areas. Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) is an evidence-based therapy for assisting people with opioid addiction, however many primary care practices struggle to implement this treatment. AHRQ invested $12 million over three years focused on overcoming the challenges to implement MAT in areas, such as Bend, Oregon, Muskogee County, Oklahoma, and upwards of 20 rural counties in North Carolina and Pennsylvania respectively. With the assistance of technology, such as phone apps, MAT was delivered to over 20,000 patients who would not otherwise have had access to potentially life-saving treatment that might be standard in more resourced areas. This project not only directly impacted patient care, but created a blueprint for other rural communities to overcome barriers to providing MAT within primary care.
Investments to improve access in local communities are ongoing as AHRQ is poised to establish state-based cooperatives that bring together multiple interest holders at the state-level to reduce local barriers to accessing behavioral health care. Up to 15 states will be awarded 5 years of funding to work with health care policy, payment, community, care delivery, and research organizations within a state to build joint capacity to implement patient-centered, evidence-based improvements.
Advances care quality to improve patient health outcomes
EvidenceNOW is one of AHRQ's flagship initiatives that directly engages health care providers to implement best practices in a range of chronic issues and quality of life concerns, from cardiac care and unhealthy alcohol use to urinary incontinence across small- and medium-sized primary care practices. This project supported 5,000 primary care clinicians at more than 1,500 practices that serve about 8 million patients to improve patient heart health in 12 states, including Virginia, New Mexico, and Illinois, and Indiana. Practices improved services and outcomes and saw a 7.3 percent increase in smoking screening and cessation counseling, a 4.4 percent increase in cholesterol management, and 1.6 percent increase in blood pressure control—an important finding, given decreasing national rates of blood pressure control.
An ongoing EvidenceNOW project to manage urinary incontinence in women currently supports interventions in primary care practices in Alabama, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and California to screen and treat women for urinary incontinence. Urinary incontinence can increase depression and work disability, as well as negatively impact other quality of life indicators. Primary care practices included in this project range from Veterans Affairs clinics in Birmingham, to Community Health Centers in California, to private primary care practices in Cleveland. So far, over 270 practices have implemented screening and treatment that previously were not available and over 88,700 women have been screened.
Findings and resources are disseminated widely so that primary care providers in other states can learn and adopt improvements. By supporting local practices and providers, EvidenceNOW enables health care settings to enhance quality care delivery.In addition to EvidenceNOW, AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) is focused on advancing care quality, specifically patient safety, by curating literature, news, and resources that can be utilized within health care systems across the U.S. In one example, LincolnHealth, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Damariscotta, Maine utilized one of the tools, the Patient Safety Culture Surveys, to identify an issue in the timeliness of emergency department admittance to the hospital. The hospital then used AHRQ’s Team Strategies & Tools to Enhance Performance & Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) to reduce admittance time by 10 minutes, keeping total wait time below 30 minutes on a consistent basis. This work not only improved intra-communications within the hospital, but also quality of care for patients to get them roomed and open new beds in the emergency department for incoming patients.
Listens to the patient voice
AHRQ emphasizes the importance of engaging communities in health care improvement efforts. By involving local populations in research design and implementation through community-based participatory research, AHRQ ensures that local projects are culturally sensitive and relevant. This participatory approach facilitates community buy-in and ensures that interventions are appropriately tailored to local needs. AHRQ’s commitment to including patient voices informs a variety of their work from protocols on how to center patient needs in treatment of specific conditions to understanding why proven preventive methods are not reaching all Americans.
Further, if you have ever had a stay in the hospital you may have completed a survey after your visit. The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) is one of the gold-standards of measurement to assess patient experience with their providers and the health care systems. This inclusion of patient experience is vital to capture patient needs, assist health systems to identify their weaknesses in care from a patient perspective, and monitor improvements within the health system over time.
AHRQ’s implementation of projects at state and local levels is crucial to advancing the U.S. health care system’s ability to provide high-quality, safe, and effective care. Through partnerships, community engagement, provider training, and data-driven strategies, AHRQ fosters a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. By addressing both broad and specific health care challenges, AHRQ ensures that local health care providers and systems are well-equipped to deliver exceptional care that meets the evolving needs of their communities
Learn more about AHRQ’s research and programs that support local health at ahrq.gov. Read our previous blogs on why AHRQ is a smart investment, the Agency’s essential role in the delivery of high value, quality care, and AHRQ’s role in rural health care access. Learn how to stand with AHRQ using our toolkit.