AHRQ Web Resource Features 100 Examples of Health Care Innovations and Tools

ROCKVILLE, Md., April 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new Web resource that
allows users to learn, share, and adopt innovations in the delivery of health
services was launched today by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The resource - called the Health Care Innovations Exchange - is available at
www.innovations.ahrq.gov.

AHRQ's Health Care Innovations Exchange is the federal government's repository
for successful health care innovations. It also includes useful descriptions
of attempts at innovation that failed. The Web site is a tool for health care
leaders, physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who seek to reduce
health care disparities and improve health care overall.

"Sharing information about important new developments in methods of delivering
effective health care is typically a hit-or-miss process," said AHRQ Director
Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "Such information exchanges often occur only within
organizations, through conferences, and by chance over the Internet. AHRQ's
updated innovations exchange will encourage information sharing, reduce
duplication and save time and money."

The Web site is being launched with 100 examples of innovations in the
delivery of health care services and attempts at innovation; that number will
increase as the site is updated every two weeks. Profile examples include an
intensive care unit's successful efforts to shorten patient stays by setting
and adhering to daily care goals; an initiative by geriatricians, nurse
practitioners, and social workers to help seniors avoid institutional care by
visiting seniors at home; and a patient/physician e-mail communication system
that overcomes the inconvenience of automated phone systems and accommodates
the difficult schedules of both the physician and the patient.

Through learning and networking opportunities offered by the Health Care
Innovations Exchange, users can:

-- Read articles and perspectives on the creation and adoption of innovation.
-- Read expert-generated commentaries on specific innovations.
-- Comment on specific innovations.
-- Participate in topic-specific presentations (e.g., Webinars) and
discussions.
-- Join online forums that connect innovators with organizations that adopt
them. Participants will identify new approaches to delivering care, develop
effective strategies for implementation and evaluation, and share tips and
information.

In addition to offering a venue for learning and networking, the AHRQ Health
Care Innovations Exchange offers a new home for AHRQ's QualityTools, a
collection of tools used in quality improvement efforts.

Since 2007, AHRQ has reached out to the health care community and called for
the submission of potential health care innovations. Only truly innovative
initiatives are included in the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange.
Innovations must be new or perceived as new to a particular context or setting
relative to the usual care processes. They must have potential for high impact
on the delivery of patient care, whether preventive, emergent, chronic, acute,
rehabilitative, long-term, or end-of-life. In addition, they should be
designed to address the need for the reduction of health disparities in
populations of interest to AHRQ, which include low income groups, minority
groups, women, children, the elderly and individuals with special health care
needs. The AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange is maintained and operated by
WESTAT, a research organization based in Rockville, MD.

The AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange is one of several AHRQ products that
help health care professionals share information about evolving trends in
health care. Among the other products are the National Guideline
Clearinghouse, which is a searchable database of clinical practice guidelines;
and the National Quality Measures Clearinghouse, a public repository for
evidence-based quality measures and measure sets.

SOURCE Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality

AHRQ Public Affairs, +1-301-427-1271, +1-301-427-1259