AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange

The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) created the Health Care Innovations Exchange to speed the implementation of new and better ways of delivering health care and reducing health disparities nationwide. The AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange offers health care professionals and researchers opportunities for sharing, learning about, and adopting evidence-based innovations and tools suitable for health care settings and patient populations. Each of the innovation profiles on the site contains an evidence rating that describes how strong the relationship is between the innovation and the reported results.

As of August 2013, the site contains:
 800 health care innovations covering topics such as health information technology, nursing care, patient safety, cultural competence, and preventive services;
 1500 free, online resources to help assess and improve health care quality ("QualityTools"); and
 50 articles and an adoption guide that provide support for implementing innovations in different settings.

Two groups of experts from the health care field provide guidance for the site's content. The Expert Panel provides guidance on strategy and direction while the Editorial Board provides guidance on innovation content and adoption and implementation strategies.

Users can share health care innovations with the larger community by submitting their innovations online or by commenting on innovations within the collection.

The AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange hosts several Web events each year in which participants can engage with innovators from various disciplines. In 2013, the series focused on health information exchange, accountable care organization, and patient-centered medical home programs in Delaware, West Virginia and Maryland.

History and implementation 
The Health Care Innovations Exchange started in 2008. Westat runs it for AHRQ.

References

Category:American medical websites
Category:United States Department of Health and Human Services