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Agency for Healthcare Research Quality www.ahrq.gov
www.ahrq.gov

Offices and Centers


The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was established in 1989 as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Reauthorizing legislation passed in November 1999 establishes AHRQ as the lead Federal agency on quality research. AHRQ, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the lead agency charged with supporting research designed to improve the quality of health care, reduce its cost, and broaden access to essential services. AHRQ's broad programs of research bring practical, science-based information to medical practitioners and to consumers and other health care purchasers.


Select for Organization Chart (PDF File, 40 KB; PDF Help).

The Agency is comprised of 9 major functional components:

Office of the Director directs the activities of the Agency to ensure that strategic objectives are achieved. The Director of AHRQ is Carolyn Clancy, M.D.

Office of Performance Accountability, Resources, and Technology directs and coordinates Agency-wide program planning and evaluation activities and administrative operations.

Office of Extramural Research, Education and Priority Populations directs the scientific review process for grants and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts, manages Agency research training programs, evaluates the scientific contribution of proposed and ongoing research, demonstrations, and evaluations, and supports and conducts health services research on priority populations.

Office of Communications and Knowledge Transfer designs, develops, implements, and manages programs for disseminating the results of Agency activities with the goal of changing audience behavior.

Center for Outcomes and Evidence conducts and supports research and assessment of health care practices, technologies, processes, and systems.

Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships expands the knowledge base for clinical providers and patients and to assure the translation of new knowledge and systems improvement into primary care practice.

Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets provides a locus of leadership and expertise for advances in health care delivery, organization, and markets through research.

Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends conducts, supports, and manages studies of the cost and financing of health care, the access to health care services and related trends. CFACT also develops data sets to support policy and behavioral research and analyses.

Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety works to improve the quality and safety of our health care system through research and implementation of evidence.

Current as of February 2007


Internet Citation:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Offices and Centers. February 2007. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/about/offcntrs.htm


 

AHRQ Advancing Excellence in Health Care