Academy for Healthcare Improvement Conference Doing Research at the Front Line of Improving Health Care April 25-26, 2013, Washington, DC Metro Area Abstract The transformation of healthcare delivery requires a workforce with expertise in measurement, quality improvement (QI) science, and QI research. There is a critical need for researchers who can integrate rigorous, traditional health services research with rigorous QI science and QI research in settings that feature strong partnerships between multidisciplinary researchers and frontline providers who actually use QI science to improve care. Until this need is met, the pace and impact with which research improves health outcomes and care delivery will continue to be unacceptably slow. We propose that the Academy for Healthcare Improvement (AHI) sponsor a conference entitled Doing Research at the Front Line of Improving Healthcare to engage and educate the workforce required to advance QI research to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of healthcare. The specific aims of this conference are to: 1) provide research design and methodology learning on healthcare delivery system interventions that can be applied in real-world practice settings, 2) provide methods of measurement of health and healthcare quality, cost and value, focusing on data that are relevant to patients and actionable by clinicians, patients and researchers, 3) disseminate robust methods of evaluating the success of QI research interventions, 4) disseminate robust methods of learning from and disseminating QI research results, and 5) provide ways to enhance the scholarly foundation and funding policies of QI research to further increase the credibility of the science. Achieving these aims will result in a group of health services and QI researchers with enhanced knowledge of QI methods, increased dissemination between conference participants and lecturers that will result in replication of proven methods across settings, and enhanced AHRQ collaborative relationships with other entities focused on QI research, including the Patient- Centered Outcomes Research Institute and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Conference activities will include varied methods of learning, such as keynote lectures, workshops, panel discussions, abstract presentations, and research consultations. Conference speakers will include experienced quality improvement experts from several fields. Conference sessions will focus on methods that can be applied in real-world settings and will include examples using AHRQ priority populations. Conference proceedings will be disseminated nationally and internationally via web links of session videotapes and synopsis of proceedings for posting at various websites.