Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The mission of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) includes both translating research findings into better patient care and providing policymakers and other health care leaders with information needed to make critical health care decisions. Its goals are to support improvements in health outcomes; strengthen quality measurement and improvement; and identify strategies that improve access, foster appropriate use, and reduce unnecessary expenditures.

AHRQ, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, serves as the lead for supporting research designed to improve the quality of healthcare, reduce its cost, improve patient safety, decrease medical errors, and broaden access to essential services. AHRQ sponsors and conducts research that provides evidence-based information on healthcare outcomes; quality; and cost, use, and access. The information disseminated helps the public make more informed decisions about treatment options and improve the quality of health care services.

Partnership Activities

CDC is currently partnering with AHRQ and developing screening standards in colorectal cancer and breast cancer. The first project will evaluate the possibility of including a measure of colorectal cancer screening in HEDIS (Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set), the leading system of quality monitoring for managed care plans nationally. HEDIS is a standardized set of performance measures designed to enable purchasers and consumers to compare the performance of different managed care plans. CDC funded an AHRQ study to develop and test a measure of colorectal cancer screening in five managed care plans to determine whether such a measure could be constructed in a scientifically acceptable and logistically feasible manner. Including a colorectal cancer screening measure in HEDIS would give health plans an incentive to increase efforts to screen their enrollees for this cancer. In May 2003, the draft HEDIS measure tool based upon the evidence from this study was approved for inclusion in HEDIS standards.

CDC partners with AHRQ for two purposes. The first involves developing strategies aimed at improving breast cancer patients' access to research-based information about their surgical options, and by improving communication between providers and patients regarding treatment decisions. CDC is also funding AHRQ to have the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force review the evidence that genetic testing for the breast cancer genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) is effective in reducing risk of developing or dying of breast cancer, evaluate the benefits and harms of BRCA testing, and make recommendations on the use of BRCA testing by primary care providers. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is charged with evaluating the effectiveness of clinical preventive services and developing guidelines for their use.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
2101 E. Jefferson St., Suite 501
Rockville, MD 20852
Telephone: (301) 427-1364
www.ahrq.gov