Agency for Health Care Policy and Research
Following is the fiscal year 2000 performance plan of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR). The fiscal year 2000 President's budget request for AHCPR incorporates the annual performance plan required under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). The fiscal year 2000 performance goals and measures are detailed in AHCPR's performance plan and are linked to both the budget and to the Strategic Plan of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Select for a summary of AHCPR's fiscal year 2000 performance plan.
Performance targets in the plan depend partly on resource levels requested in the President's budget and could change based on congressional appropriation action.
GPRA requires that HHS plan, budget, and be accountable for program results. The intent of the Act is to improve program performance by considering performance information in decisionmaking and by involving our partners and stakeholders in accomplishing program results.
Contents
Introduction
Comparison of Performance Plan Goals and Objectives
AHCPR Performance Plan Summary Table: Fiscal Years 1999 and 2000
Structure of the AHCPR GPRA Annual Performance Plan
Goal 1: Establish future research agenda based on users' needs
Goal 2: Make significant contributions to effective functioning of U.S. health care system through creation of new knowledge
Goal 3: Foster translation and dissemination of new knowledge into practice by developing and providing information, products, and tools
Goal 4: Evaluate the effectiveness and impact of AHCPR research and associated activities
Goal 5: Support Department-wide Initiative to Improve Health Care Quality through Leadership and Research
Goal 6: Collect current data and create data tapes and associated products on health care use and expenditures for use by decisionmakers and researchers
Goal 7: Support the overall direction and management of AHCPR
Alignment: Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Lines, Funding Request
Alignment: Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Lines, Funding Request
Connection to HHS Strategic Plan
Examples of AHCPR's Contributions to the HHS Strategic Plan
Introduction
The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and was created in 1989 specifically to respond to the Nation's need for knowledge about the health care
system. In fiscal year 1999, it has 275 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and a total budget of $171,055,000.
The mission of AHCPR is to support, conduct, and disseminate research that improves the outcomes, quality, access
to, and cost and utilization of health care services. This mission, which focuses on the effectiveness and value of health
care in daily practice, is unique and complements the biomedical and behavioral research responsibilities of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH). The products of the Agency include knowledge that supports decisionmaking to
improve health care and tools that can improve quality and reduce costs.
We recognize that health care in 1998 is very different from 1989 when the Agency was created. The Agency has
adjusted its agenda and priorities to meet the new challenges we face, while continuing our charge set forth by
Congress. To this end, we have focused our priorities on three primary customers: clinical decisionmakers, health
care systems leaders, and policymakers, each of whom need information to enhance their contribution to improve
the quality of care in this country. We serve our customers with research on outcomes, quality, cost, use, and access.
Expected Results and Impact of Agency Programs
AHCPR's fiscal year 2000 budget theme is "Closing the Gap." The research priorities will be focused on closing four gaps.
- First, we need to use the results of what we have learned to close the gap between what we know and what
we do today in health care practice.
- Second, we will fund research to close the gap between what we know now and what we need to know to
further improve care in the future.
- Third, we will develop the tools that enable us to close the gaps between the questions confronting
decisionmakers at all levels in the system and the information that is available to them.
- Finally, we will apply all of these strategies to close the gap between minority populations and whites in the
quality, outcomes, and access to care.
AHCPR Cycle of Research
Producing meaningful contributions to the Nation and to research on health care requires continuous activity
focused on iterative improvement in priority setting, on developing research initiatives, and on research
products and processes. The research cycle (image, 8 KB) describes the processes AHCPR uses to conduct its
ongoing activities in order to make the most productive use of its resources.
Needs Assessment. Agency activities begin and end with the end-users of Agency research. Through a
continuing dialogue with representatives of the end-users, staff identify major issues and decisions for which
information on quality, outcomes, cost, access, and use is needed. The research agenda is based on an
assessment of gaps in the knowledge base and on the needs of patients, clinicians, institutions, plans,
purchasers, and State and Federal policymakers for evidence-based information. Input gained during the
needs assessments feeds directly into the research initiatives undertaken by the Agency, as well as the
products developed from research findings to facilitate use in health care.
Knowledge Creation. AHCPR will support and conduct research to produce the next generation of
knowledge needed to improve the health care system. Building on the last 10 years of investment in outcomes
and health care research, AHCPR will focus on national priority areas for which much remains unknown.
Translation and Dissemination. Simply producing knowledge is not sufficient; findings must be useful
and made widely available to practitioners, patients, and other decisionmakers. The Agency will systematically
identify priority areas for improving care through integrating findings into practice and will determine the most
effective ways of doing this. Additionally, AHCPR will continue to synthesize and translate knowledge into
products and tools that support its customers in problem-solving and decisionmaking. It will then actively
disseminate the knowledge, products, and tools to appropriate audiences. Effective dissemination involves
forming partnerships with other organizations and leveraging resources.
Evaluation. Knowledge development is a continuous process. It includes a feedback loop that depends
on evaluation of the research's utility to the end user and impact on health care. In order to assess the ultimate
outcomes of AHCPR research, the Agency will place increased emphasis on evaluation of the impact and
usefulness of Agency-supported work in health care settings and policymaking. The evaluation activities will
include a variety of projects, from smaller, short-term projects that assess process, outputs, and interim
outcomes to larger, retrospective projects that assess the ultimate outcomes/impact of AHCPR activities on the
health care system.
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Comparison of Performance Plan Goals and Objectives
Revised Final Fiscal Year 1999 to Final Fiscal Year 2000
In writing the fiscal year 2000 performance plan, the format and content of the plan was substantially changed. The Agency subsequently revised the fiscal year 1999 performance plan to align with the fiscal year 2000 format. Each performance plan goal has a separate section as follows:
- Strategy: This section contains an explanation of the Agency's approach to accomplishing the goal.
- Previous Successes: This section contains examples of previous achievements that are applicable to the goal and strategy.
- Goal Statement.
- Fiscal Year 1999 Objectives and Indicators.
- Fiscal Year 2000 Objectives and Indicators.
In addition, the fiscal year 2000 plan is different in these ways:
- The number of measures has been reduced to 35 from 60 in fiscal year 1999.
- A new goal has been added (Goal 1) to reflect the Needs Assessment phase of AHCPR's research programs.
- The goals, objectives, and measures are now presented in tables.
- The discussion of data collection issues has been expanded both in the Summary and under the objectives and indicators.
- Examples of previous Agency successes are included before the goal objectives and indicators.
- Seventeen of the measures are outcome measures.
- A more detailed description of how the AHCPR performance plan aligns with the HHS Strategic Plan goals and objectives has been added.
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