Frequently Asked Questions

AHRQ's priority populations, specified by Congress in the Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-129) include: women, children, racial and ethnic minorities, populations with special healthcare needs (chronic illness, disabilities, and end of life care needs), the elderly, low-income, inner-city, and rural populations.

AHRQ uses the words "consumer" and "patient" to differentiate between individuals who may be exploring options for their medical care. "Consumers" refer to individuals who may be facing a decision about which health plan to enroll in. "Patients" refer to individuals who have an existing health need or health care condition and who may be facing a decision about which physician, hospital, or outpatient provider to select for a particular treatment.

AHRQ's videos are available on many of its websites and also on its YouTube channels:

• AHRQ HealthTV.
• AHRQ en espanol.
• AHRQ Effectiveness.
• AHRQ Health IT.
• AHRQ Primary Care.
• AHRQ Patient Safety.
• AHRQ Data Resources.

The AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange is designed to support health care professionals in sharing and adopting innovations that improve health care quality. Sponsored by AHRQ, the Health Care Innovations Exchange offers:

• Detailed profiles of innovative activities and QualityTools.
• Contact information for innovators.
• Education, through perspectives, articles, videos and more on supporting innovation and implementing innovations effectively within your organization.

For more information, go to the Innovations Exchange website: https://www.innovations.ahrq.gov.

The Health Care Innovations Exchange is interested in all innovations that have a direct or indirect impact on patient care or service delivery. Priorities established by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) include:

• Innovations that focus on reducing disparities in care or improving the health status of vulnerable populations.
• Innovations with the potential for high impact.
• Innovations submitted by someone with a strong interest in participating in all activities of the Health Care Innovations Exchange.
• Innovations developed as a result of AHRQ funding.

The QualityTools website was integrated into the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange website. Go to the Innovations Exchange Help page to learn how to search and browse the QualityTools database for tools of interest.

You can type your search term in the Search box accessible on the Innovations Exchange homepage to search the database quickly.

You can apply filters to the result set to help you narrow the search. Filters include content types (for example, innovation profiles, qualitytools, articles, and videos) and/or specific QualityTool Topic, including benchmarking/comparative data, patient/medication safety, and quality improvement strategies.

You can also browse the QualityTools database by topic and other areas shared with innovations, including disease or clinical category, IOM domains of quality, setting of care, patient population, and more.

Innovation refers to the implementation of new or altered products, services, processes, systems, organizational structures, or business models as a means of improving one or more domains of health care quality or reducing health care disparities. Innovation can mean different things to different people, depending on sector as well as organizational and other contextual factors.

The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) was signed into law in January 2009. This legislation marked a new era in children's coverage by providing states with significant new funding, new programmatic options, and a range of new incentives for covering children through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Since that time, AHRQ and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have been working together to implement selected provisions of the legislation related to children's health care quality.

AHRQ's authorizing legislation and its Strategic Plan make children one of AHRQ's priority populations. AHRQ's mission for children is consistent with its overall mission: to support, conduct, and disseminate research that improves access to care and the outcomes, quality, cost, and use of health care services. To that end, AHRQ collaborates with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and external experts to fulfill a number of requirements under Title IV of CHIPRA:

• Identifying a core set of children's health care quality measures for voluntary use by Medicaid and CHIP programs (select for a list of final, posted measures and archived materials). For the latest version of the Child Core Set, visit Medicaid.gov.
• Implementing the CHIPRA Pediatric Quality Measures Program. The PQMP contributes to the CHIPRA-required identification of improved core children's health care quality measures for use by Medicaid and CHIP and other public and private programs, providers, plans, and patients.
• Evaluating CMS's Quality Demonstration project awards.
• Creating a model children's electronic health record (EHR) format.