Announcements

AHRQ and the Ad Council encourage consumers to ask questions and get more involved in their health care

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has joined with The Advertising Council and actress and health advocate Fran Drescher to launch a new series of national public service advertisements (PSAs) designed to encourage consumers to get involved in their health care by knowing and asking appropriate questions when visiting their doctors or other clinicians.

The new "Questions" PSAs, which were created pro bono by Grey New York, aim to encourage all patients to become more involved in their own health care by asking questions of their doctors or other clinicians. The ads feature people asking questions in everyday situations, such as ordering food at a restaurant and buying a cell phone, but clamming up when their doctor asks if they have questions. The television, radio, print, outdoor, and Web ads direct audiences to visit a comprehensive Web site, http://www.ahrq.gov/questionsaretheanswer, to learn the 10 questions every patient should think about asking when visiting their doctor or other clinicians.

The new "Questions" PSAs are an extension of the Ad Council and AHRQ's patient involvement PSA campaign that launched in March 2007. The campaign is one of a series of campaigns that AHRQ and the Ad Council have collaborated on to improve health care. Other campaigns encourage men to get appropriate preventive care screenings and encourage Hispanics to take care of themselves by visiting a doctor to get preventive tests. The Web site features tips for patients to become more involved in their health care, including a list of questions everyone should know when they visit their doctor or other clinician. The Web site also features a "Question Builder" tool that allows patients to develop a customized list of the questions they can take to their medical appointments.

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