AHRQ

Trusted Brand

Advancing Excellence in Health Care

Trusted Brand

About AHRQ

AHRQ specializes in Advancing Excellence in Health Care.


Mission

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) mission is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used.


The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. The Effective Health Care Program of AHRQ works with researchers, research centers, and academic organizations to produce CER and translate findings into useful formats for a variety of audiences, including patients and clinicians. Comments from anyone outside of AHRQ do not imply an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, AHRQ, or any other Federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Health Resources and Services Administration.

In 1999, an Institute of Medicine report, “To Err Is Human,” documented serious patient safety problems in our health care system. In the intervening years, AHRQ has led the Nation in responding to those issues and improving the safety of health care. Using AHRQ’s research and how-to tools, the U.S. health care system prevented 1.3 million errors, saved 50,000 lives, and avoided $12 billion in wasteful spending from 2010– 2013. But, even with these successes, safety

Latest Activity

  1. The number of ADHD-related medical visits increased from 6.2 million in 2000 to 10.4 million in 2010. (1) Because there is no one medical or physical test that tells if someone has ADHD, we nurses must know how to spot the signs and be prepared to g...
  2. Childhood obesity has quickly become a major health issue impacting the US. According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years (1). In 2012, more than one third of children an...
  3. Keeping women healthy during pregnancy and childbirth is critical not only to the health of the baby but also for the woman's lifelong health. Complications sustained during childbirth, including complications of cesarean birth, can negatively impact...
  4. Through Internet searches, social media posts, television commercials and advice from friends and family our patients might become overwhelmed by the sheer number of facts and figures about heart health. Whether we are involved in the intake of new p...
  5. Clostridium difficile infections can be painful, dangerous or even deadly. Because of this, reducing the number of patients infected with Clostridium difficile or C. difficile is a public health imperative. Hospital billing data collected by AHRQ sho...
  6. AHRQ

    Are you familiar with AHRQ?

    The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is one of twelve agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Its mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all America...
  7. Don't you wish there was one place to go for research that compares the effectiveness, risks, and side effects of drugs, medical devices, tests, surgeries, or ways to deliver health care? Look no further than Treatment Options: Explore. Compare. Prep...
  8. Hello Teresa, Yes, we are thinking about the same systematic review. Thanks for your help on that! And I agree that we don’t yet know about the contribution of turning toward pressure ulcer prevention or treatment. It’s frustrating, right? The realit...
  9. Given the interest, we'll start a discussion topic on pressure ulcers soon. You're always welcome to post any research and to include links to relevant resources.
  10. Teresag_CNS, this is an excellent comment for a number of reasons. You've identified a real and important problem that nurses face every day, but more so, you described the full context and kept it patient-centered. You've described the topic in a wa...
  11. Ever wish there were more hours in the day? Especially when it comes to having discussions with your patients about treatment options for a condition? Every minute with your patient counts. Maximize your time and effectiveness with reliable tools fro...
  12. Over the last several decades, advancements in research and health care have led to an overwhelming amount of information and increase in the number of treatments for many conditions and in a corresponding increase in journal articles reporting on th...