| AHRQ
Background Information AGENCY
FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY
Background
What Does AHRQ Do?
AHRQ has the following three goals: Improve
physician practice and Americans’ health outcomes;
Improve the quality
of health care (e.g., patient safety);
Improve the health care system (e.g.,
increase access and reduce costs). In
brief, AHRQ “helps to improve the health and health care of the American
people…” (AHRQ report, March, 2001). How
Does AHRQ Meet Its Goals?
AHRQ translates research findings from basic
science entities like the National Institutes of Health into information that
doctors can use every day in their practice with their patients. Another key function
of the agency is to support research on the conditions that affect most Americans.
1.
AHRQ Translates Research into Everyday Practice
Congress has provided billions
of dollars to the National Institutes of Health, which has resulted in important
insights in preventing and curing major diseases. AHRQ takes this basic science
and produces information that physicians can use every day in their practices.
AHRQ also distributes this information throughout the health care system. In short,
AHRQ is the link between research and the patient care that Americans receive.
Example:
Research shows that beta blockers reduce mortality. AHRQ supported research to
help physicians determine which patients with heart attacks would benefit from
this medication.
2. AHRQ Supports Research on Conditions Affecting
Most Americans
Most typical Americans get their medical care in doctors’
offices and clinics. However, most medical research comes from the study of extremely
ill patients in hospitals. AHRQ studies and supports research on the types of
illness that trouble most people. In brief, AHRQ looks at the problems that bring
people to their doctors every day – not the problems that send them to the
hospital. Example:
AHRQ supported research that found older antidepressant drugs are as effective
as new antidepressant medications in treating depression, a condition that affects
millions of Americans. Institute
of Medicine Recommends $1 Billion for AHRQ
The Institute of Medicine’s
report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (2001)
recommended $1 billion for AHRQ to “develop strategies, goals, and actions
plans for achieving substantial improvements in quality in the next 5 years…”
The report looked at redesigning health care delivery in the United States. AHRQ
is a linchpin in retooling the American health care system.
| 
