Research Policies
- Funding Opportunities Announcement Guidance
- AHRQ Grants Policy Notices
- AHRQ Informed Consent & Authorization Toolkit for Minimal Risk Research
- HHS Grants Policy Statement
- Federal Regulations & Authorities
- Federal Register Notices
- Public Access to Federally Funded Research
- Protection of Human Subjects
Topics
Information on AHRQ's most-searched topics are included below and in the A to Z menu above.
Results
Topics 1 - 10 of 16 displayed
Antimicrobial stewardship programs are coordinated programs within a health care setting that promote the appropriate use of antimicrobials, thereby improving patient outcomes, reducing antibiotic resistance, and decreasing the spread of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant organisms.
Diagnostic errors occur in all settings of care, contribute to about 10 percent of patient deaths, and are the primary reason for medical liability claims. AHRQ is the lead Federal agency investing in research to improve diagnostic safety and reduce diagnostic error.
A set of behaviors by patients, family members, and health professionals and a set of organizational policies and procedures that foster both the inclusion of patients and family members as active members of the health care team and collaborative partnerships with providers and provider organizations.
AHRQ has invested in research and shared information on the benefits of telehealth for several years, through its Digital Healthcare Research Program and Effective Healthcare Program.
AHRQ activities focus on developing an effective, feasible approach for using all-payer claims databases to improve healthcare affordability, efficiency, and cost transparency.
Care coordination involves deliberately organizing patient care activities and sharing information among all of the participants concerned with a patient's care to achieve safer and more effective care. This means that the patient's needs and preferences are known ahead of time and communicated at the right time to the right people, and that this information is used to provide safe, appropriate, and effective care to the patient.
Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are among the most common types of healthcare-associated infections. Most cases of CAUTI are preventable. Since October 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services no longer reimburses costs associated with hospital-acquired CAUTI. AHRQ tools, research, and resources related to reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), among the most common types of healthcare-associated infections.
Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), are a type of healthcare-associated infection (HAI), and is associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and costs. As many as 28,000 patients die from CLABSI annually in U.S. intensive care units. AHRQ has tools and research for healthcare professionals to prevent and reduce CLABSI.
Healthcare disparities are differences in access to or availability of medical facilities and services and variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between population groups defined by socioeconomic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, economic resources, or gender and populations identified geographically or similar measures. AHRQ has reports and data on disparities in health care related to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
Each year, somewhere between 700,000 and 1,000,000 people in the United States fall in the hospital, and about 1.3 million residents in nursing facilities fall. Falls can lead to serious injuries, decreased ability to function, reduced quality of life, increased fear of falling, and increased health care use. AHRQ’s tools, training, and research on preventing falls in hospitals and nursing homes.